


K-Team!

by Ilyasviel



Series: K-Team! Shenko happy adventures [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternative Perspective, Colonist (Mass Effect), Developing Relationship, Emotions, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Falling In Love, Flirting, Fluff and Smut, Language, Love, Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Not Canon Compliant, Romance, Sexual Humor, Sexual Tension, Swearing, Vanguard (Mass Effect), Violence, War Hero (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-08-30 21:05:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 39,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8549059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilyasviel/pseuds/Ilyasviel
Summary: Kayla Shepard is the perfect soldier, or this is what the Admiralty wants everyone to think about her. But below the facade, she was a funny and happy girl who learned how to live a full life instead of let the bad moments get the best of her.With that in mind, she accepted the new position as XO of the SSV Normandy, the most advanced vessel of the Alliance, unaware that that mission will change her life completely.----------------I'm in love with the Mass Effect series, and after playing another time the trilogy, I needed to test if I'm ready to write how I imagined the story  in my head. My Shepardis a little more happy than the one in the games, I can't imagine her beign so serious all the time, and the lasts games shows us that she has a funny side.Planning to be a loooong story, covering the 3 games and not respecting the canonical outcoming at 100%, changing the relation of the characters and adding more 'inter-missions'.Hope you enjoy my tribute!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I will start saying Sorry! my apologies if you found errors or something that sounds terribly wrong... It's my first time writing a fan-fic and above of that, English is not my language, so I'm pretty sure I will make a lot of mistakes and perhaps you want to stick knives in your eyes (or cut my hands, I'll let you choose :P)
> 
> I don't have a beta-reader, so you will have the pure version of what my mind produce, be nice with me.
> 
> Comments are very welcome, wants to do it the best I can, and reviews are always helpful.

Captain Deckard walks with Shepard to the Dock 6, where the Normandy is waiting for her. She wants to see the ship in person, needs to understand the real reason behind Shepard’s decision to left the Argo and join the Normandy. When the door to the docking area opened, Deckard slow the pace to get a good look of the vessel, and Shepard seems to be doing the same. When they neared the airlock, Captain Anderson gives the two woman quick salute while moving in her direction. “Hello Deckard” grabbing the forearm of the captain like the brothers-in-arms they are “I’m sorry for stealing Shepard from your command, but we have an important mission and the Admiralty wants the best humanity has to offer”

 

Deckard look at him with a little smile in her face “I know it Anderson, but we will miss her anyway, at least I can say that I’m happy that you will be her captain and not another one who wants to show off her on every spaceport” she sounded angry, as if she was remembering something distasteful. Shepard touch her arm to distract her, and obviously worked because she looks again to the ship with a happy grin “hope you knew what kind of torture are you accepting by inviting her to serve in the Normandy”

 

“What?!” Shepard sounds offended, but she looks so happy and relaxed that nobody will believe it “I believe he can handle it, I don’t think that this will be worst that my puberty days, good times, eh, Anderson?” 

 

“Yes… I still remember how you broke the hand of the first boy who try to touch you without permission “ he raise an eyebrow to her “I really hope you have learned of more civilized forms to say NO” he was smiling broadly while remembering her younger years. His omnitool light-up and Anderson read the message, closing it with a quick movement and a sigh “Time to go, we are almost ready to take off. Deckard, I’m sorry, I promise you a meal and a tour the next time we are docked together”

 

“No problem Anderson, take care of her for us” she graved Shepard in a bear hug “Be careful Kayla, see you soon, I need to return to Lorek to pick up the rest of the N7 squad” Deckard let her go with a sad smile and moves away from them. Near the door, she turns and waves before closing the door.

 

Anderson take her hand and give her a half hug “Is good to see you in one piece this time”

 

“They patched me before arriving to Arcturus, I was with an N7 squad doing some special training. At least this time they saved my face” She was moving her hand over her face while smiling. They entered the airlock and the VI start the decontamination procedure. “The Argo has dispatched all my equipment to the Normandy, has arrived?

 

Anderson look at his omnitool for a moment “Yes, the crew are loading it in the cargo bay now, so we can left as soon as Arcturus Control give us the green light” the VI announces the end of the process and the door opens.

 

“Welcome aboard Shepard, let me show you the ship” he signaled to her left “The bridge, as you can see is big enough to have a pilot, co-pilot and navigator, the one behind all this movement is the Flight Lieutenant, Jeff Moreau, but everyone calls him Joker” the pilot listen the captain talk, and wave one of his hands “Welcome to the Normandy ma’am, can stop to talk right now, but I’ll see you at the mess tonight, enjoy the tour. Captain, Arcturus is giving us green light to take off, give me a destination and I will make this beauty fly with style to there. If you want I can pass by the command center of the station to say Hello! to Captain Dillard”

 

Shepard was trying not to laugh, Anderson was drilling a hole in the back of the pilot seat before turning to go to the CIC. She stay in the bridge and walked to Joker “Nice to meet you Joker, I love to see that I am not the only one who enjoys making the captain angry” when he stop a moment to look at her with a faint smile “aye aye ma’am, nice to have help, is tiring doing it by myself while flying” she left the bridge laughing loudly.

 

Shepard walks to the CIC and introduced herself to some crew members while waiting for Anderson. While he descend of the galaxy map, Joker announces the destination over the comm “ETA to Palaven, nine hours”

 

“Palaven sir?” she follows the captain to the crew quarters “We have to pick up the last crew member, the turian hierarchy wants one of them aboard the Normandy for the official shakedown run” they arrived to the crew deck and Anderson shows her around “This deck has the quarters and bathrooms, that one is the officer's quarter. That’s the mess, my cabin is just behind that door” they walked through the mess “the escape pods are lined here, and you can see Doctor Chawkas in the med bay” He knock the crystal and the doctor waves to them before beckoning to them to enter. 

“Commander! Good to see you again!” the doctor give her a hug “Hope to see you more in the mess than in the medbay, but just in case, I stocked enough medigel and painkillers to take care of you” she winks to her and Shepard only can smile to her “I hope so, you know how I fight and the last ten days have left me a little sore”

At that comment, Chawkas enter in doc-mode and take her hand, pushing her to a gurney “Test time Commander, you know how it works… you can say a doctor that you are feeling sore before an N7 training and hope to walk away” Anderson sit at the doctor’s desk and Shepard look at him with puppy eyes “Captain!! I’m fine! The doctor’s of the Argo patched me! Save me from this needle-maniac!” All three of them are laughing when Chawkas make her to sit at the gurney and started the diagnosis program in her omnitool “Commander… you fight like a crazy krogan in the battlefield, but we talk about a blood test or some medical procedure and you panicked, lucky you, today I will use only the scanner” the humor very obvious in her tone, but Shepard change to a new shade of red at the comment “that’s not fair doc…” Chawkas close her omni before going to her desk “I’m joking commander, I know you too well. I will give you some medi gel to treat your bruises and cuts, and some painkillers to help you sleep, you have two cracked ribs still healing”

 

Shepard get out of the gurney and walked to the desk to take the meds “Thanks doc, by tomorrow I will be as new” the doctor only smiled to her and put a hand in her shoulder “Is good to have you onboard Commander, now I have to return to my work, see you around”

 

Anderson and her left the medbay and walks to the elevator “Last stop of the tour, the cargo bay and engineering”. When the doors opened, Shepard put her hand in the wall and her eyes glowed blue for a moment “Can you feel it? The Tantalus core is awesome Anderson, can't wait to…” in that moment, she saw the Mako parked in the cargo bay, and she can suppress a biotic wave of energy “a Mako, we have a MAKO!… pleeease, say the words, make me a happy soldier, say that will be the vehicle for the ground missions!” Anderson try to remain stoic, but her happiness seems contagions, and soon he’s smiling broadly with her “It is Shepard, you can drive it and give nightmares to your team members about it” she was giggling like a little girl “This journey is getting better and better”

 

They walked to the lockers where a soldier was placing her equipment in a security locker “The gym is at the end of the cargo bay, is small but it will suffice between missions” They pass along the Mako and pet the wheel like if she was a mascot, whispering “See you soon beauty!” and follows Anderson to engineering.

 

A soldier was reading a datapad near the door and salute them “The requisition officer, he can provide you with weapons, mods, armors… you know how it works” they returned the salute and entered engineering.

 

Shepard walks to the core like in a trance, blue energy flowing over her body “I just fell in love with the Normandy. Captain, I’m totally messed up for a normal life” the engineer stationed there salute her and shake her hand “I see that my girl has not lost her touch, she is special, isn’t it?” Shepard feels extremely relaxed near the core “Absolutely, I loved her body when I saw her in the docking bay, but now, this beating heart is the sweetest thing I ever feel, it’s like walking in the rain” she let go of his hand “Commander Shepard, nice to meet you…” he nodded to her “Engineer Adams ma’am, welcome to the Normandy”

 

She looks to the core and closed her eyes for a moment, controlling her power at last “If it’s not a problem, can I come to the core to meditate before the teams came at mornings?” Adams give a timid look to the captain, an almost imperceptible nod gives him the response “Of course Commander, whenever you need it”.

 

The voice of Joker sounded by the comm system “Captain, Admiral Hacket is at vid comm” They left Adams working and walks to the elevator “Roger that, I’m on my way” When they arrived to the crew deck, Anderson goes to the CIC and Shepard decided to eat something before going to sleep.

 

She doesn't want to cook, so she improvise some kind of sandwich, and start rummaging the cabinets in search of some tea. Shepard was kneeling and still searching when she hear someone coming. When she looked over her shoulder, her heart stopped for a moment, one of the sexiest mans she ever saw was looking at her from the mess. 

 

Kaidan was reading the crew files walking to the kitchen. He listens a sound and look up from the datapad and his feets stopped immediately. Someone is on her knees searching one of the cabinets, he didn’t recognize her, his brain is pretty sure that he will remember an ass like that… 

 

She try to hide the blush in her face by sitting in her feets and sighing loudly “I will make a requisition to make a general order to all the mess sergeants to store the tea in the same place in all the ships”

 

She can hear him coming closer and put down the datapad he was reading in the countertop. Shepard look at him when he gets close _ “damn, that man it’s screaming PROBLEMS!”  _ and then he talks and she feel his voice like a caress, all husky and hot and sexy “The tea is here” and pick up the box with the tea bags from the cabinet and put it with the datapad and look at her with a half-smile “but we can make a requisition to storage it on the lower ones, is fun to see a officer on their knees” she can avoid smiling to him. He then offer her a hand to get off of the ground, and the moment their hands touch, they feel like an electric jolt and ended enveloped in biotic energy. She was looking to her eyes and saw how his pupils dilated for a moment, and knew instantly that hers will be the same, and they retreated the hands at the same time “Sorry about that, I didn’t know that we have another biotic aboard” she breaths deeply before extending her hand again “Commander Kayla Shepard, nice to meet your” he take her hand again, but this time booth of them controls the energy “Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, welcome aboard ma’am”

 

She take the box and start searching for a green tea “Please, if we are off duty, call me Shepard or Kayla, I’m not so fond of formalities. Do you want some tea or coffee?” he looks at her with a surprised face “A coffee please, and you can call me Alenko then, or Kaidan if you wish”

 

Shepard brewed the water and serve his coffee “Let me guess, black, no milk, no sugar?” he nods with a smile and she brings the mugs to the table.

They have seat one in front of the other, and she was trying to distract herself from stare him by eating her sandwich, but it’s not working, so instead she decided to talk to him to have an excuse to look at him directly “Is good to have another biotic on the ship” 

He put downs the datapad and sips from his coffee “Yeah, it will be good to learn to work with you, if I remember correctly, you are a vanguard?” 

She looks to the deep of her mug _ “great… another fan...” _ . With a sigh she looks at him “Yes, I’m a vanguard... Alliance network or some special issue of a war magazine?” he senses the change of tone on the commander, and put the mug on the table, raising an eyebrow questioning her “I mean where have you read that” he was still puzzle, but answered her question “In the crew dossier the Captain gave me this morning” 

She turns bright red and exhale loudly “Sorry Alenko, people tend to study about my life in the extranet and talk to me like they knew me, I hate when they can’t pass of my legendary image and only talk to me, the soldier and human being”

She was playing with some crumbs on the empty plate, avoiding his gaze, and trying to pass the uncomfortable moment “What is your specialization?” he ended his coffee, walks to the sink to leave the mug, and turns to Shepard, leaning himself on the counter “I’m a Sentinel. I loved tech before becoming a biotic, so it was the perfect path for me” Shepard smiles to him and walks to the sink to leave the plate and then stand beside him “That will be interesting, ours classes combines perfectly, I’m sure we can make a deadly combination” she looks at her eyes and saw that they are caramel brown, like a sweet candy or a good whisky _ “shit Kayla, calm down!” _ she sips more tea to calm herself a bit and decided to cover the moment with humor “I got an idea” she pokes her ribs with her elbow “we can be the K-team!!” he seems to ponder it and suddenly burst into laughter, and she follow him. 

They laugh until booth of them have tears in their eyes and Chawkas was watching them from the medbay with a grin.

“I just remembered an old series from the 20th century that I saw with my father when I was young” she gives him an affirmative thumbs up “Yes! I saw it with my family too, the broadcast didn’t arrive to Midnoir and we saw a lot of oldies at night. Let’s see… who you want to be?” She place herself in front of him and touch her lips with a finger “I suppose you will choose the sexy Phoenix, I can imagine you having a girl in each space station and charming your enemies” she was teasing him, but the response she have make her heart beat a little bit faster, he was blushing… BLUSHING! And touching his amport as he looks intensely at his feets  _ “It should be forbidden to be that adorable… Ooooh wait, where did that came from??”  _ She felt her face blushing “I’m pretty sure I can’t fulfill that role, maybe I’m more like B.A. Baracus, strong, kind and resourceful” she is in trouble, and she knew it, but damn, he’s cute as hell, but try to hide the feelings with more humor “I will be Murdock almost all the time, crazy and funny, but sometimes, when I have to put the commander mask and acts as a responsible person, I will be Hannibal Smith, but obviously I will save the day with a final quote” she winks to him and walks to the sink to leave the mug.

  
“Time to sleep now, I was in a mission some hours ago and I need to sleep or you will have to drag me to Palaven tomorrow. Nice to meet you Alenko, maybe we can watch some oldies when off duty” she waves to him and listen a sweet “good night” when closing the quarter doors. Gods, she have a problem, a dark, tall and handsome problem with husky voice and caramel eyes...


	2. Sweet medicine

Shepard can’t sleep, she’s tired and knew that need to close her eyes and rest, but she can’t find a good position. After an hour of thrashing below the sheets, she decided to get herself a tea. She walks directly to the door trying to put some kind of order on her hair and finally decided to let it down and was unraveling the knots in it when opened the door. She collided with someone and lost her balance, but before she can get hurt kissing the floor, a strong arm in her waist stopped the motion. She knew immediately who’s the owner of that arm, the goosebumps she feels in her skin scream ‘biotic’. 

Shepard was trying to control her biotics when she feels his own powers flaring briefly “Shepard, sorry, are you okay?” 

He let her go and take a step back, leaving the room. She recovered quickly and followed him outside the quarters “Yes, but no need to apologize, I was walking without thinking” 

She remembered then that is walking barefoot, with shorts and a big alliance t-shirt, and take a step toward the mess “I need a tea or something, can’t sleep...” 

She’s looking intensely to her own feets when he put a hand in her elbow “Then let's go to the kitchen before you catch a cold, I’ll make you my sleepy-special to apologize” she doesn’t have the energy to say no, and followed him to the mess. 

He guided her to a stool in the kitchen while he prepared the beverage. Some minutes later, he puts two mugs in the countertop and sat with her “my sleepy-potion, hot milk chocolate, hope you like it” 

She has goosebumps again, but can’t be sure if it was from the cold air or from his kindness. Finally she looks at him with a smile in her face “Thanks, I can’t remember the last time I had a hot chocolate to help me sleep” she turns herself in the stool to lean on the countertop, and put her legs up, covering them with the t-shirt and placing the mug in her knees “But you have to tell me your secret… having a secret box of chocolate is so tempting!” 

He start scratching his neck again “Not a big one medical prescription, has my name all over the package… help me to relax and sleep. Maybe some other day we can talk about it, but tonight, I’ll prefer to enjoy the chocolate”

She sipped her chocolate and a happy sigh left her lips “Then I’m more than grateful that you shared this sweet medicine with me” she’s still feeling cold, but the chocolate and the company helps a lot. They sat in silence with their mugs for a while, making appreciative sounds while enjoying the beverage and the company. 

By the time they ended, Shepard was yawning and feeling more than ready to go to bed. He recovered the mugs and leave them in the sink. Walking near the stool where she was sitting, he take her hands “Let me help you, I’m sure your feets are as sleep as you”

“Thanks, next time maybe I’ll have to remember to put more clothes on me” he put a hand on her elbow to ensure she will not fall while walking to the quarters. They are outside the door testing her feets and when she nodded to him, he let her go. She opened her omni to see how many hours she can sleep before her shift “Hope your chocolate really help me fall asleep, I need to wake up in five hours and really need a good nap” he opens the door and whispers to her to not disturb the crew in the sleeping pods “I’m sure of it, is a good medicine, remember?” he was smiling and waiting for her to go to her bed “Good night Alenko, see you tomorrow” “Good night Shepard, sweet dreams”

She gets into the bed immediately, enjoying the blankets and the promise of warm that the bedsheets offer, and then her eyes saw movement at the other side of the room… she knew what's happening and can’t stop herself to look at him. The low illumination of the quarter let her see him, not clearly, but enough to ignite her curiosity. Hi’s folding his uniform and stand near the bed in his underclothes, searching in a drawer until he found a t-shirt. He gets to the bed, and she slowly lets go the breath didn’t know was holding back.

Luckily, the chocolate did a very good work, and she falls asleep in mere minutes.

 

The beeping from her omnitool finally entered her mind and she moves languidly to stop it. She feel rested but in no hurry to get out of bed. She confirmed the hour and decided that she can spend five more minutes enjoying the warm bed. At last she forced herself to wake up for real , she don’t wants to be late in her first morning at the Normandy. She grabs her bag and leave the quarter as silently as possible in a ship with hydraulic doors. Its early in the morning and she have the showers for herself, so she enjoyed it and spend a little more time than the necessary to wash her hair. She dries her head with a towel and let it fall freely over her shoulders, she will wait until it dries a bit before tie it up. Knowing the sound the door will do if she enters the quarters again, she decided to put the bag in her locker, it will be time later to unpack her luggage.

She walks to the kitchen, where the two mugs from the last night are at the sink. She take two breakfast rations from the cabinet and star heating the bags and serving it in a plate  _ “It seems I got myself some kind of scramble egg… we can travel across the universe in the blink of an eye but we can’t make edible military rations…”  _

She sat at the counter and eat her breakfast while reading the crew dossiers Anderson sended her. The captain and the Admiralty had hand picked the crew for this mission, including herself, so she’s not really surprised the number of commendations some of them had.

When the plate was empty, she left it at the sink and make herself another tea, searching the box of energy bars for the flavours she like most strawberry or vanilla. She found three and put two in her pockets and open one while walking again to the table.

She starts reading each personnel file in detail, starting with Navigator Pressly. When she saw that he was stationed on the SSV Agincourt during the Skyllian Blitz, she closed the file and pass to the next file.

The Flight Lieutenant has an impressive record: bests scores in the academy, praises from every captain he has served, and the same amount of reprimands or comments about his insubordination and  problems with the chain of command. Now that she knew him, she can relate to both sides, but don’t want to have any other pilot in the helm. 

She pick the next and saw Kaidan’s name write on it, she founds herself willing to read every bit of information, but knew that she never did that, she likes to knew her crew personally, not letting the description from other people to change her perception. So she pass to the next file: Doctor Chakwas, well, that one is passed too, she knew Karin very well and didn’t need the official version. One by one, all the crew members showed in her datapad, from the lowest marine to the highest official below her. 

She prepares herself another tea and while brewing, she checked the hour. She still have almost twenty minutes before her shift, perfect time to enjoy her black tea and another energy bar. The datapad was next to her mug, and she knew what is pushing her hand to take it again: she WANTS to know about Kaidan. She feel intrigued and wants to know more about him, and her mind prepares a perfect excuse to read the file: she needs to knew his capabilities to fulfill the role of head of the ship's Marine detail and as member of the ground team. So she stop fighting the need and pick up the datapad, searching for Kaidan’s file. 

She was chewing the energy bar while reading the file and lost herself in thoughts  _ “He’s three years older than me... earth-born… Canadian, uuuhhmmm maybe that's the reason I found his voice so different? Biotic, that info came late”  _ she chuckled remembering their reactions to one another touch _ “Commendations from his superiors officers, some comments about him not using his full potential… maybe I will need to see for myself about his use of the biotics. L2 implant, special medical treatments related to the implant. That sounds odd, I’ll talk later with Karin to ask about it” _ she open her eyes surprised about this train of thoughts  _ “No no no, I can’t do that… but I need to know about his medical problems, he will be part of the ground team and I need him at 100%’ _ she convinced herself to talk informally about Kaidan with Chawkas. She closed the file and encrypted again the datapad before leaving the mug at the sink and walking to the quarters to prepare herself for her first shift as Normandy’s XO.

 

She entered the CIC five minutes early, and saw Anderson reading a datapad near the galaxy map “Good morning Captain, what’s the status?” 

Anderson look at her and saw that she was in salute position, all professional and centered “Good morning Commander. Nothing new. The ETA has advanced thirteen minutes thanks to Joker adjustments… maybe his ego don’t left free space in the cockpit for a while “he laughs his own joke and Shepard can’t fight the smile moving to her face “I’ll have that in mind Anderson, do you want me to drag his ego in the mud?” 

“Tempting idea Shepard, very tempting… anyway, the ETA to Palaven is in five hours, so I will head to my cabin to sleep as much as I can. I will return in four hours and a half. You don’t have to be in the CIC, and if you want to leave, Pressly can take care of everything for a while” he search for a datapad in the table near him and pass it to her “There you have the assignments of the crew shifts for the next 2 days, we will remake it when we set course to the next destination after Palaven” she takes the datapad and activating her omnitool, download the info to have a quicker access.

“Thanks, I’ll take care of the bridge, get some sleep while you can Captain”

Anderson give her an affirmative nod and left the CIC. She looks the room and tried to find something to do. Finally she decided to talk for a while with the crew, even with Pressly, but try as best as she can to avoid talking about the blitz, and the navigator seems to notice and talks about everything but that topic. She finally decided to join Joker at the cockpit for a while and walks decidedly to the bow of the ship, her boots sounds loudly in the corridor. Joker hear someone coming and looks over the chair to the door “Hey Commander, how’s your sleeping the first night in this beauty? Her core is massive but extremely silent, some people find the lack of sounds and vibrations disturbing”

She smile to him while walking directly to sit at the weapon’s system seat, at Jokers left “I had a very pleasant night once I finally fall asleep, I suppose my body didn’t change the clock after my last mission and spend some time pursuing Morpheus”

Joker give her a cocky smile “And which pill did you pick? The blue one or the red one?” She recognized the quote, put a wicked smile in her face before answering him “Well, it’s obvious, I choosed the red one, because I’m pretty sure you can only exist at this side of the Rabbit hole”

Joker is delighted “Oooh my my Commander, you are an oldie lover! We can play one of my favorite games, quote time!” he repositioned himself in the chair and looks to his right “What do you think Alenko, you believe the commander is ready to have a hand on hand with us?”

For the first time since entering the cockpit, Shepard looks to the co-pilot seat and found Kaidan there, looking directly to her. He smiled to her and put his eyes in Joker “I’m sure she will be a formidable adversary Joker, my guts say that she will kick our asses in this game, but we can try it, only for the fun of see you losing to her”

Joker pretended to sound offended but failed miserably “your confidence overwhelms me Alenko, lucky for you, I can kick her ass in this battlefield”

Shepard chuckled “yeah yeah, sweet dreams Joker, but if you are so sure, we can spicy it a bit, do you want to bet on it?”

Joker take off his hat, passing a hand through his hair and ending the movement scratching his beard “A bet? ok… what do you have in mind?”

Shepard fixed her gaze in the hat with a hungry look in her eyes and saw him flinch the moment he realized her intentions “No way, you only can have my hat over my dead body”

She shrugs at that “Then what do you have to offer?”

He puts on his hat again while thinking on something “I don’t know… I don’t believe I have nothing that the great Commander Shepard will want… maybe I can wrap Alenko for you if you make me bite the dust”

A little blush found his way to the commander face, but not nothing noticeable for the other two mens with the light of the cockpit. She decided to play the game and extend her hand to Joker to close the deal “Deal. If you win, I will give you that” She takes her N7 hat from the back pocket of her pants.

Kaidan’s mind finally wake up to the situation in front of him “Hey! I was to be part of the game, not the price!” 

Shepard looks to him smiling “Don’t worry Alenko, I will treat you well” blinking to him, she walks to the door “The game is on, remember, using extranet is cheating and will piss me off, and probably ends with you having cleaning shifts. We’ll start with an easy one to warm: 

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.”

 

Joker looks to her while over his shoulder and recited the rest of the poem:

“From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

Nice try Commander, but Lord of the rings is still a classic! But I have to say, I love your choice”

 

She touched her forehead with two fingers and walks to the CIC with a smile in her face, listening a panicked Kaidan showing no mercy with Joker.

 

The hours passed quickly, using her time to read some info regarding the stealth system installed on the Normandy and talking with the crew. Anderson showed on the CIC at the same time that Joker announced that they will arrive to Palaven in thirty minutes.

Anderson used his omnitool to send a message to the officers of the ship, they will have to be ready to receive the new member of the crew in formal attire. Shepard was searching for her uniform in the wardrobe when Kaidan entered the room.

He see her standing near her bed with the uniform ready and blushed “Oh, sorry Commander, I can wait until you are done”

She smiled and beckons to him to enter the room “No problem Alenko, I’m pretty sure I’m not the first marine you saw in underclothes” and she begins to undress. Kaila needs to remember herself to breath slowly and control completely her powers. She gives him her back but the goosebumps in her skin tells that he was looking at her, but at least she can hear him moving on the room getting ready. She ended quickly, and sat on the bed to put her boots, and to have a chance to secretly enjoy the show of Kaidan in underwear… and gods help her, he’s hot! Not an inch of fat in his muscular body, a sexy trail of hair downs from his chest to the underwear… she fixed her eyes in the laces of the boots, knowing her face is a new shade of red  _ “Take a hold on yourself, lusty girl! Remember to breath!”  _ She’s still fumbling with the laces when the sound on the other side of the room stopped. Shepard let herself to look at Kaidan and saw him watching her “Well, it seems we are ready to receive this mysterious member of the crew” Kaidan opened the door and waited for her “The Captain has kept the secret from you too?”

They were climbing the stairs two at a time “Yeah… I discovered that we are headed to Palaven at the same moment than you, I can’t think of a reason for all this secrecy… Well, you know, this ship was made by a turian-human team, it’s not like the Hierarchy wants to steal our secrets”

He stopped before the door “Yes, It’s suspicious, but I’m sure Anderson had a good reason for not telling, don’t you think?”

Shepard have her hand ready to open the door “Of course, but I will be ashamed of myself if I don’t disagree with the way the secret is maintaining every officer in the ship in the dark” He nodded to her in agreement, and move himself near her while the door opens.

They can feel the Normandy docking in the space station over Palaven, and saw that Anderson, Pressly and Adams are already at the airlock. 

The maneuver ended smoothly and Anderson opened the door and walks out of the ship. The formed outside the airlock, Shepard and Kaidan at the right side of Anderson, and Adams and Pressly to the left. A minute later, they saw a turian walking directly to them, followed by a levitating platform with some boxes and what seems to be arm boxes.

The turian take the hand offered by Anderson and talks with him softly. Finally the Captain turns heels and approach the team “Nihlus, let me introduce you, Lieutenant Adams, chief engineer. Navigator Pressly, Staff Lieutenant Alenko and the XO of the mission, Commander Shepard” when they clasped hands with the turian, Anderson opens her omnitool and contacted the requisition officer “Officer, we need some boxes on the ship, send a team to retrieve it”.

While closing the omni, they signaled the airlock and moves to the door to initiate the decompression process “Nihlus is here on behalf of the Council, he is a member of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, and will be our contact to the Hierarchy in the shakeup trip”

Shepard looks to Kaidan and saw incredulity in his eyes, and knew that she will have the same light on hers “A Spectre… I fucking Spectre! This is beginning to sound very suspicious”. She decided to talk later with Anderson, with the hope to have some more info about the mission

In the same moment that the VI gives them green light to enter the Normandy, her omnitool beeped with a message. It was from Joker and only have a sentence “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain”

She let Anderson, Adams, Pressly and Nihlus walks ahead of her to the CIC and putting a hand on Kaidan elbow, stopped him to show the message. They set eyes on one another and smiled “He’s not working very hard… but at least we will be remembering nice pieces of art. I’ll be there in a moment” and walked to the pilot’s chair quicky.

“Hey Joker, you know, I can relate A LOT with Roy Batty words, maybe not the last part, but all the rest… I loved it. Good choice! Blade Runner was a favorite of mine, the dystopian world is amusing! I’ll try my best to give you a hard one next. By the way, we have a Spectre on board, so… behave yourself, I don’t want to loose the best pilot in the Alliance for pissing off a Spectre”

Joker salute her with a smirk “Aye aye commander” 

With that, she walks to the CIC to accompany Anderson while showing the ship to the turian.


	3. Training sessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please, if you have any advise, just say it! Is my first fanfic and I'm pretty sure that I will make a lot of errors. I will be grateful if you help me to improve with your comments ;)
> 
> Thanks for the kudos and comments!
> 
> NOTES: The image of Kaidan in only his lower armor and an armored arm comes from this awesome work from Vorcha_Girl (http://archiveofourown.org/works/6117003) love the idea and the artwork! so sexy <3

Anderson did a quick job on showing Nihlus the Normandy, returning to the CIC en less than ten minutes. Shepard stay near the stairs with Chawkas, who was reviewing the medbay and mess supplies, to make sure that they have everything a dextro-protein passenger.  
“I suppose that is a big surprise for you too, doc?” she gestured slightly to Nihlus with her head.  
Chawkas look at the turian with a hard frown in her face “Yes… the captain told me this morning, only an hour before we docked in Arcturus, and I’m sure he only did it to give me some time to prepare us for him”  
Shepard can’t find a reason for the secrecy… If the Hierarchy, the Council and the Admiralty knew about Nihlus, why keep the crew in the darkness?  
Just then Anderson marked a destination in the galaxy map, talking quietly with Pressly to set the quickest route. Once decided, the navigator send the indications to the cockpit, and a minute later, Joker talked in the general comm “In route to Eden Prime, ETA three hours”.  
Shepard remembered Eden Prime from the news, as one of the human colonies outside the Council space. Why are they going to a human colony for a shakedown run? Why risk the ship in a trip near the Terminus system? The gears in her mind are running like crazy, trying to understand the news, and didn’t see Anderson walking to her.  
“Shepard, you have two hours to test the marines in the ship and decide who will be with you as a ground team, I’ll gather them in the cargo bay, be ready there in five”  
“Aye aye, sir” she cast a quick glance to Nihlus and catch him watching at her with interest. Creepy…

  
She walks to the cargo bay and the requisition officer give her a box full of practice ammo. They prepared together some targets and move the mats from the gym to a clear area.  
Kaidan was reading something in his omnitool when she joined him near the lockers “Alenko, ready for some sparring?”  
He smiles to her without closing the report “I’ll try not to be hard with you Commander, not want to taint your reputation”  
She winks to him while taking her armor from the locker “You can try it Alenko, you can try it”

He moves his hand over his omni and Shepard’s lighted briefly. “There you have it, the marine’s report, I added the comments about their abilities I knew from previous sessions or missions. We are the only biotics on the crew, but we have some good techs, infiltrators and soldiers”  
She make a quick read to the reports and closed the omnitool “Thanks Alenko” she changed to her commanding voice “Let’s get ready for some sparring and shoot range tests, put on your armors and prepare the weapons to fire practice ammo, we start in five”

  
She started to undress near her locker and saw Kaidan doing the same, and she had to work very hard to not get distracted by the view. She tried to dress as quick as possible, and get stucked in her upper armor when trying to close the hatch. A soft curse left her lips without thinking, and before she can realize it, she feel Kaidan near her “Let me help you with that” when she looks at him, her heart stopped, he only wore the low part of his armor, no shirt to hide his body from her. She blushes like a teenager, but hide it behind the armor glitch “Thanks, it seems that I’m too eager to start the practice…”  
“No problem Commander, but you will need to revise this sealings” he was inspecting the armor with a clinic precision “Maybe they are damaged from your previous assignment” he puts a hand on her shoulder “All clear, we can revise the armor at the end of the session”  
“Are you sure you are not an engineer in disguise?” she moves to the weapon rack to recover her shotgun and change the configuration for the practice ammo.  
He looks at her over his shoulder, raising his hand and activating the biotic energy around the fist “Yeah, I’m pretty sure” The smirk in her face was something to remember “Oh Alenko, how much will you regret this show-off”  
He ended with the armor and pick up his pistol from the locker “We’ll see Commander”

They walked together to the marines and make groups by classes.  
“Soldiers, we need to test our capacities, individually and as a team. Lieutenant Alenko will test the tech techniques, while we take some rounds on the shoot range, finally we’ll make some hand-to-hand combat. Let’s start with the infiltrators”.  
Shepard make the two infiltrators, making them shoot to a special target, big as a credichip. Both of them did a great job and hit it with every try. They changed to pistols and Shepard aligned all the soldiers that aren’t practicing with Alenko, and begin the test. She made them to change weapons at will, annotating in her omnitool the hits and accuracy of each of them.  
“Good job team, Alenko, bring your group here” when they aligned to the targets, Shepard changed the configuration of the targets to add shields and armor “Ok soldiers, shoot at will!”  
She positioned herself near Alenko, and they chatted about the marines, the techniques they are using and how to improve the attack.

  
The last target change to red color, signaling the end of the test “Ok, rest a bit soldiers, we’ll change to hand-to-hand in ten” she positioned herself in the line “Alenko, time to test the combat abilities of my medic” He draw his pistol and readied the omnitool “Want to try some cooperative techniques or wanna try to kick my ass?”  
Shepard put a finger in her lips “Uuuhhmm, I really want to make you bite the dust, but I’ll do that in the hand-to-hand training, so we can go for the cooperative run” she was smiling to him with a light in her eyes “Party time!”  
Alenko knew she was a vanguard, but never suspected how a powerful one she is. As soon she stopped talking, the blue aura enveloped her, launching a warp between the targets, Kaidan launched a Overload to the right target and uses a Lift, leaving the target floating. He saw Shepard activating her barrier and running to the other target with the shotgun on hand. She launched a Throw and the target ended pinned with the wall, aiming the weapon to the head and shooting four times, destroying the rest of the armor. Meanwhile Kaidan has destroyed the levitating target with precise hits from his pistol. She holstered the weapon on her back and walked to center of the room, clasping Alenko’s shoulder when passing by “Good job Alenko, nice techs”

  
Shepard let her shotgun in the rack and positioned herself in the mats “To test the hand-to-hand abilities, I will spar with everyone of you, nothing serious, only technique, who’s first?”  
Corporal Jenkins take a step “I’m in mad’m” they clasped hands and positioned to the fight, they danced for a while, Jenkins trying to grab her and Shepard simply avoiding him, at last, he try to punch her in the ribs, and she grabbed his wrist and throw him over her shoulders, landing hardly in his back. He hurried to get up, grinning happily “That’s awesome Commander!”  
“Good job Jenkins, if you have any pain go to see the doctor, ok?” he salute her “Aye aye commander”

  
“Well, next?” and she sparred with the nine marines with the same result, she always danced with them for a while, and then take advantage of a bad movement or an opening to win the match. Only Alenko was left, and he was looking at her with a raised eyebrow “Time to kick my ass?” She laugh openly to him and beckoned to the mat “Your words, don’t mine, do you want to change the rules?” He pondered his options, but shakes the head “I don’t know if I can survive a biotic sparring with you, so I’ll prefer to stick with the hand-to-hand classic”  
She nodded and positioned herself “Ok, let’s dance Alenko”.

  
He decided to let she begin, and take one step back, circling her while watching her feets to control her charge. She was studying his movements and saw that his vision is fixed in her feets _“Bad movement, I’ll enjoy the next minute”_. She stopped and change the position of his feets, and in the infinitesimal moment that his eyes moves to her body instead of her feets, she charged him, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back, and with a quick movement of her feet, make him lose the balance and fall over the mats, with her over his back. She pinned his legs, interlacing them between her legs. She put her other hand over his neck and talked directly on his ear “Got you Alenko, nice try, but you get easily distracted”

  
She can feel him trying to free himself from her grasp, and breathing heavily “As you can imagine, the close combat is not in top of my training priorities” She smiled at that statement “I can help you with that and you can teach me some of your tech tricks” She move the hand on his neck and let go the pinned arm. When she used her hand to support herself to get up, her hand caresses the amp port on his neck, and he silenced a low moan and flared his biotics. She quickly move from him, blushing, and helped him to get up. She whispered to him in a low tone “Sorry Kaidan, my bad” she clasped his hand and talked normally to the rest to hear “Good job Lieutenant”.

  
She moved out the mats and then saw that Anderson and Nihlus are seated near the requisition officer. Shepard saluted them and talked to the marines “Thanks for the sparring soldiers, I will send the squad configurations to your omnitools in an hour, take a break”

  
“At ease Commander. Have you decided who will be on your ground team?” Anderson moves to her with Nihlus on toe “Yes Captain, I will take Lieutenant Alenko and Corporal Jenkins, between the three of us we will cover almost every necessity in combat. Alenko has the medical and technical skills, Jenkins is a well versed soldier, and my biotics will complete the team.

  
Anderson nodded “Good choice Shepard, rest while you can, we will pass the Charon mass relay in an hour and a half. Eat something and rest before the briefing” they left the cargo bay and left Shepard and Alenko there. The requisition officer moved them to the lockers to gather up the mats and targets.

  
“Alenko, what do you think of the mission? Talk freely please, I got a bad feeling and don’t know if I’m being paranoid or not” He was taking off his upper armor “Well… I can’t deny that it’s suspicious that no one have knowledge about the possibility to have an Spectre onboard, and Eden Prime is a strange location for a shakedown run” Shepard let go a loudly sigh “At least is not my paranoid mind. Let’s hope we are being pessimist and nothing weird happens in the mission”

  
He was again shirtless, but not completely, his left arm is still fully armored, and the image will haunt Shepard dreams for weeks. She blushed slightly and fixed her attention to her armor, trying to open the hatch of the chest plate. Shepard feel a hand on her shoulder, positioning her looking to the doors “Let me help, we need to check those sealings”.

  
She can feel his hands moving over her back, and fight to control the rush of powers threatening to flare. The chest plate fall in her hands and he take the back plate to the table “Bring the front part here, I’ll make a complete run test to try to find the problem”

  
He connected the two parts and closed the seals. Activating the omnitool, he runned a diagnosis program on the armor VI. “Ok… we need to change one of the seals, the upper-left of the backplate, can you ask the requisition officer for a replacement? I’ll be here installing a new mod to my armor” She crossed her arms and look at him with a raised eyebrow “The hit on the mats have made you forget the chain of command Lieutenant?” He let the armor on the table and fixed his gaze on his feets “Sorry Commander” she punched him in the arm ‘I’m kidding Alenko, you need to learn how to read me, or I will cause you a heart attack”

  
He breathed slowly and put a hand on his neck “Yeah, I suppose that it will be easier that hoping you stop teasing me, no?” She nodded emphatically “You can bet your ass on it” he laughs while picking again his armor “Someone already did it for me, so is not mine to bet”

  
She returned five minutes later with the replacement, and found Kaidan fixing his armor again, and activating the new mod. She put the piece in the table and sat in the corner, with the shotgun on her knees, adjusting the ammo to piercing and testing the cooling mod. Alenko replaced the seal quickly and helped her with it, running a test in the VI and giving her a thumbs up over her shoulder. Just then, a growl sounded, and Shepard can feel the blood running to her face, Kaidan just chuckled and touch her elbow “We need to eat before the briefing, with a Spectre on the team, I don’t believe we make the trip to have a romantic walk on the beaches of Eden Prime”

  
They entered the mess and Kaidan opened the fridge and started to make two sandwiches, while Shepard searches in the energy bars box for the flavours she liked “Say me that you don’t like ONLY the chocolate ones or I’ll have to kill you, I don’t share my bars”  
He smiles to her over his shoulder “I love the chocolate ones, but I prefer to stay alive, so I can stay with the citric ones” she pick three bars of chocolate and when searching for the citric ones, found one of vanilla, and decided to give Alenko one of chocolate “Wanna coffee or tea?” He ended with the sandwiches and put the plates on the counter, sitting in a stool “A tea is fine, the same one you choose” She heated water and put two tea bags in the mugs “Green tea for you, here, save that for later” and put in his hands the energy bars. He saw the chocolate one, but instead of saying nothing, only smiles to her.

  
They sat in silence, eating the sandwiches, and the Shepard laughs for herself “Time to a new quote for Joker, wanna help me to pick a hard one? Or do you want me to loose and save your ass from me” He ended his tea and turn on the stool to face her “If you promise to be kind with me, I can live helping you make Joker loose the bet”

She opened her omnitool smiling to hem “I promise to behave myself. I got and idea... my father loved an old sci-fi series called Firefly, it was one of that series that gots cancelled, but at least the writers made a movie closing the story, called Serenity, did you know it?” He winked to her “I’m canadian, remember? Every ten years, they still made a browncoats convention in Edmonton. I don’t know if Joker will knew about it…”

Shepard gets lost in her toughs for a moment _“gods, this guy is so good to be true… Cute, nice, good soldier, can cook, easy to talk… is screaming Problems to my heart”_. She covers the moment searching a quote in her omnitool “Here, that one will be perfect, I don’t want to put him a very difficult one this early in the competition”  
Kaidan looks to her screen and saw the quote “I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar” She then shows him the scene where the pilot says the quote “Yes, that one is perfect for him, at least maybe he remembered from the fact that is a pilot who says it”

  
The alarm in their omnitools beeped simultaneous. Kaidan picks the plates and mugs and left them in the sink, before turning to Shepard with a side smile “Let’s be bad guys!”  
She clapped happily “Shiny!” and turns to the stairs, while sending to the captain and marines the squad’s distribution.


	4. Eden Prime - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The moments before the Eden Prime mission, with the tense realization that things are not what they seem...

Shepard and Kaidan walked into the cockpit, the lieutenant sitting on the co-pilot chair and the commander stopping near the pilot, right hand on the chair “Time to see if all the bravado is for real” when Joker turned his face to her, she put a stoic expression and moved her left hand “Engage!” 

All of them remained in silence for some seconds, and then laughs exploded. Shepard cleans the tears from her face, Joker doing the same with the cap in his hands “Shepard, you will be the dead of me! You have a lot of hair to do that” she winks to him “And you are too old to accept the order” he tries to look offended but failed miserably “Ok ok, you win. Alenko here can give you the price” 

 

The lieutenant face changed to a deep red “Tell me the exact moment when I become yours to command and share?” Joker put his cap again “You spend a lot of time in my domains, and I'm sure the commander will take good care of you, so… you are mine to command while you are my COPILOT” the last words were punctuated by air quotation marks “because I’m the king of the galaxy in this cockpit. Embrace yourself, the commander is on her way”

 

Shepard was having fun with the situation, but can see that Kaidan is feeling uncomfortable. She tried to think of a way to win Joker in his game while maintaining the good relation with Kaidan… but her heart had other plans and chooses that moment to rebels. 

She closed the distance with the copilot seat and leans to him, whispering at his ear “Two can play this game, we can make him feel uncomfortable, maybe even enough to stop for further bets. Are you in?” She moved a bit to look at his face, and saw his pupils grow and the caramel color almost disappeared from his eyes. He nodded “What do you have in mind?” She didn't talks, moves her hands to the back of the seat and the armrest, her face moving slowly to his, lips parting. She saw him closing his eyes, and then she was kissing him, and Kaidan is returning the kiss, a temptative tongue touching her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth, starting a war with their tongues. She's starting to feel dizzy, but can't bring herself to stop, but then Joker reacted “Wow wow wow, can you please stop? Some people are working here…” she broke the kiss, and uses her hand to clean the mouth of the lieutenant, feeling the heat and softness of his lips. She was retreating to the pilot’s chair when Kaidan opens his eyes, the passion clearly visible in them. She can see how he started to take slow breaths, same as her, to calm down. Shepard pushed down Joker’s cap “If you don't want a show, stop using the lieutenant as a present yours to give, otherwise you will have this show every time and I imagine that piloting with that image in your brain can be difficult” 

 

She positioned herself behind Joker’s chair and put the commander mask in place “Time to work. Joker, ETA to the relay?” He adjust the cap in his head and nodded, focusing himself to the controls in front of him, moving the hands at high speed, performing the necessary calculations “fifteen minutes mad’m” she touched his shoulder and walks to the door, but before leaving, looks to Kaidan, he was his eyes focussed on a blank screen, a finger touching his mouth _ “Maybe I had made a very big mistake…”  _ she stopped at the CIC and tells Anderson the ETA, walked to a corner away of the crew, and opened her omnitool, writing a message to Kaidan.

 

  1. S.: Hey Alenko, well… about ‘that’, sorry! I didn't wanted to make you feel uncomfortable, hope my crazy ways don't scare you, and if you feel that I overstepped and wants to talk with the captain, I will understand it



She closed the omni and sighed _ “What a way to end a friendship Kayla, nice work”  _ she was beginning to think in the ways the Alliance will punish her when a beep announced a new message.

 

K.A.: No worries Shepard, Joker’s face and reaction had been priceless, and I’m totally fine with ‘that’. Maybe we can talk about it after the mission.

 

She feel her face turning red reading the message  _ “I don't if I’m happy or worried, or maybe booth. Definitely we need to talk, but first I need to sort my head”  _ The omni stills opened and she typed a response 

 

K.S.: Ok, when the mission ends we will sit and have a talk, maybe over one of your specials?

K.A.: Sure! But bring your shoes this time

K.S.: Funny LT, very funny

K.A.: Extra cream will gain me a pardon?

K.S.: Maybe…

K.A.: And if I share with you my real chocolate?

K.S.: You can't have a chocolate bar… not fair! I can give you a white card with real chocolate involved!

K.A.: I have more than one, so you can start thinking in the conditions of your surrender

K.S.: definitely, not fair… I lived without chocolate for two years, say your terms LT

 

She see Nihlus walking to the cockpit after stopping briefly with the captain, booth of them looking at her while talking softly.

K.S.: Nihlus is on his way to the cockpit, we’ll talk later

K.A.: Aye aye commander

 

She closed the omnitool and approaches Anderson “Well Captain,what are you not telling me? Because I didn't buy the official story, a spectre like Nihlus don't do that kind of missions…”

Anderson looks at her with a grin in his face “You will know when we enter the system, not before commander, go to the cockpit and wait for it”

She can't believe he gives her that crap, but they are not alone and she must follow the order “Aye aye sir” she saluted him but chooses not to hide her discomfort about the whole situation. 

 

She walked to the bow of the ship, listening how Nihlus praises Joker, and after he left the room, Joker starts one of his speeches about how great he was and that he didn't like having a spectre onboard. She startled him taking his cap playfully “You need to be more careful about how you talk about a man that can kill you with his pinky without sweating” she returned him the cap and seated on the armrest of Kaidan seat “But I’m with you on that one… this mission is not what they say”

 

Anderson voice filled the room from the comm “Joker, set course to Eden Prime at high speed. How’s the ship?” 

“Steal systems are engaged, full velocity achieved, shields and weapons ready, we will arrive to Eden Prime in ten minutes”

“Good job Joker, commander, come to the comm room”

“Aye aye sir” she gets up and move to the door “Time to learn the truth”

Joker gives her a thumbs up “Good luck Commander, share the secret with us only if you don't have to kill us after telling it”

She smiled to him and waves her hand to Kaidan “See you in a while, try not to engage in any battle while I’m not here!”

The two of them smiled to her and responded at the same time “Aye Aye Commander!”

 

The comm room was at the center of the ship, behind the galaxy map. Near the door, Jenkins is talking happily with Chawkas, and she stopped briefly to talk a bit with them. Jenkins is excited about the mission and having an spectre onboard is not helping to cool him. A couple of minutes later, she said goodbye to them and entered the comm room, finding Nihlus alone.

 

The spectre moved to her side “Commander Shepard. I was hoping you'd get here first. It will give us a chance to talk”

She didn't like it, reading a turian is a hard task, with all the tones and subterfuges of their voices, but can say he was studying her “What about?”

 

Nihlus crossed his arms “I'm interested in this world we're going to--Eden Prime. I've heard it's quite beautiful”

Shepard put her hands behind her back “I wouldn’t know, never been there”

He moved againt to the center of the room and give her his back “But you know of it. It's become something of a symbol for your people, hasn't it?”

She was starting to get angry, but try to stay calm “I’m a marine, not some tourist on vacation”

He turns again “It's more than just a tourist destination, isn't it, Shepard? Eden Prime is a symbol of your people, a perfect little world on the edges of your territory. Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them. But how safe is it really?”

She finally left some of her anger show in her voice “If you’ve got something to say, just say it”

The spectre mimic her pose “Your people are still newcomers, Shepard. The galaxy can be a very dangerous place. Is the Alliance truly ready for this?”

Just then Anderson enters the comm room “I think it's about time we told the Commander what's really going on”

He puts himself between Shepard and Nihlus, and the turian relaxed his pose “This mission is far more than a simple shakedown run”

She snorted, crossing her arms defiantly “I already figured that out”

The captain ignored the tone “We're making a covert pickup on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational”

She can’t believe it “I don’t like being kept in the dark, Captain” 

Anderson knew that she’s angry with the situation “This comes down from the top, Commander. Information strictly on a need-to-know basis. A research team on Eden Prime unearthed some kind of beacon during an excavation. It was Prothean”

That’s dissipated some of her anger “Prothean? I thought the Protheans vanished fifty thousand years ago”

Nihlus entered again in the conversation “Their legacy still remains. The mass relays, the Citadel, our ship drives--it's all based on Prothean technology”

The marine in her take control “What else can you tell me?”

She can see how serious the situation is in the face of Anderson “This is big, Shepard. The last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forward two hundred years. But Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to handle something like this. We need to bring the beacon back to the Citadel for proper study”

The spectre moved a hand to emphasise his point “Obviously, this goes beyond mere human interests, Commander. This discovery could affect every species in Council space”

She knew a warrior when she saw one “It never hurts to have a few extra ands onboard”

The spectre mandibles vibrated for a moment, and his voice lowered a tone “The beacon's not the only reason I'm here, Shepard”

Anderson sounds a little bit nervous “Nihlus wants to see you in action, Commander. He's here to evaluate you”

She looked directly to Anderson’s eyes “What’s going on, Captain?”

The captain puts his hands on his back “The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time. Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council. The Spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come.

Nihlus put himself to attention, the conversation changing to a more serious tone “You held off an enemy assault during the Blitz single-handed. You showed not only courage but also incredible skill.  That's why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres”

That broke Shepard’s concentration and her face can’t hide the surprise “You put my name forward? Why would a turian want a human in the Spectres?”

He shrugged, a movement that Shepard found disturbing in the body of a turian “Not all turians resent humanity. Some of us see the potential of your species. We see what you have to offer to the rest of the galaxy... and to the Spectres. We are an elite group. It's rare to find an individual with the skills we seek. I don't care that you're human, Shepard. I only care that you can do the job”

She closed her eyes for a moment, breathing slowly, trying to relax “Just tell what I have to do”

The spectre seems happy with her response “I need to see your skills for myself, Commander. Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together”

Anderson opened his omni for a moment, looking at the time “You'll be in charge of the ground team. Secure the beacon and get it into the ship asap. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission”

Shepard senses the battle peace take control of her, as every time she is going to be deployed ”I'm ready to go, just give the word, Captain”

Anderson was closing his omni with a quick movement “We should be getting close to Eden”

The voice of Joker filled the room “Captain! We've got a problem”

“What's wrong, Joker?” the pilot sounded troubled “Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this!”

The captain moved to the comm device “Bring it up onscreen”

They saw a battle, some marines under fire, no sign of the enemies attacking them, but their voices show the desperation of the moment. They saw a strange ship landing and the transmission ended”

The voice of Joker returned “Everything cuts out after that. No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There's nothing”

Anderson looked troubled, but Shepard knew that she have the same face, but the captain had to do his work and think quickly “Reverse and hold at thirty-eight point five. Status report” Joker checked the ETA after some calculations “Seventeen minutes out, Captain. No other Alliance ships in the area”

 

Anderson and Nihlus decided to go with a small strike team, conformed by Shepard, Alenko and Jenkins, while Nihlus himself will act as scout. Ten minutes later, they are equipped and ready on the cargo bay, Jenkins eager as ever to start, Kaidan asking the captain about possible survivors, but the mission has a priority call: the beacon, and their orders are to go directly to the dig site and secure it.

 

Nihlus was deployed first, and two minutes later, the team was on Eden Prime, weapons ready and scanning the area.

Kaidan was using his omnitool to detect hostiles, and give them the green light “Ship perimeter secure, Commander!”

 

Over the comm, Nihlus talked, they can listen his steps while running “This place got hit hard, Commander. Hostiles everywhere. Keep your guard up”

Jenkins is strangely silent, and when Shepard put a hand on his shoulder, he moved his head up and closed his eyes for a moment “Oh God. What happened here?”

 

She remembered that Jenkins was born in Eden Prime, and his family still lives here “Let’s move, we need to know what happened here, and try to find someone alive in this mess”

She can feel Kaidan’s gaze on her back, and when she looks at him, he was smiling to her, probably happy to know that they will have their eyes open for survivors, clearly ignoring Anderson’s orders.

 

They moved slowly, checking for hostiles everywhere, but they didn’t find a living soul, except for the gas bags that floats everywhere, Jenkins explained them that the bags are inoffensive, but explode when touched, so they have to maintain their distance or shot to them.

 

They only have been moving for ten minutes, when she stopped the team, somethings feels wrong, she can feel it in her guts, but can detect the source. She scanned the area, looking for the reason of her reaction, but didn’t see any. Kaidan looks at his omni, but no hostiles appeared, but Shepard knew that the radar is not a hundred percent effective, so she always trust her senses and feelings “I don’t know why, but I had a bad feeling about this spot, be careful, we move from cover to cover, with caution” the two marines nodded to her, and Jenkins moved to the last cover before the road. He was halfway when the view of some burned bodies distracted him, and then Shepard and Kaidan listen a buzzing sound, and almost immediately, a rain of bullets crashed on Jenkins, penetrating his shields and armor like he wasn’t wearing any. 

 

She knew he was dead before his body hit the ground. Kaidan activated a shield to cover him and Shepard, and move with her to a cover in the middle on the road, the bullets ricocheting with the shield but not penetrating it. When they are behind the rock, they crouched and take a look to their enemies: some drones with heavy weapons are flying twenty meters ahead of them “Shit, we don’t have a good ranged weapon, we will need to use the biotics and then approach them to shoot our weapons”

Kaidan nodded, and prepare his omnitool to launch an overload as soon as they start the attack “Remember that I need to be on the middle of the fight, control your attacks as much as you can” she takes the shotgun in her hands, changing the ammo to Sledgehammer Rounds “They will pay for Jenkins” 

 

She closed her eyes for a moment, and hear Kaidan draw his pistol. They activated their powers at the same time, the eezo nodules vibrating with one voice, and Shepard counts to three with her hand to start the attack. 

 

Kaidan attacked the nearest one with the overload, incapacitating the machine. Shepard used a lift on the further one, starting to run to the next cover while preparing a Throw. Kaidan did the same with another one, the pair of drones floating mercyless. They launch the Throw at the same time, almost destroying the drone they chose with their combined attack. When they are near, Shepard charged, shotgun at hand, barrier activated, and start shooting to the drones she can see. Kaidan uses overload and biotics to protect her flank, and soon they destroyed the six drones.

 

They walked to Jenkins’s body, Kaidan’s works as field medic is to confirm the death and send the coordinates to the Normandy for a pickup of the body if possible. Shepard takes his badges and save them in a pocket of her armor, while Kaidan sends the message to Chawkas and gets up slowly “Hell… I never lost anyone on my watch, don’t like the feeling…” she closed the distance between them and put a hand on his head, over the neck, and joined their helmets, visor on visor “I know the feel, but we need to be strong, and end the mission, or his dead will be a waste. And walking ahead will give you plenty of chances to take revenge on whatever puts this drones in our way”

Kaidan looks directly in her eyes, seeing her resolution and determination, and nodded “Ok, we can't stay here” but before they move, she grabbed Kaidan in a hug, whispering over the private comm “We will survive this shit and we'll revenge him, and then I will try to find his family, to talk to them about the happy and valiant marine who died on me trying to save this colony, are you with me, Kaidan?” She sounded more desperate that she planned, but the pain is fresh on her heart and can hide it from him, because he was feeling the same. He returned the hug, strong arms pinning her to his chest “I will be there with you, we owe him that”

 

Some heartbeats later, they broke the hug and started to move over the mountain...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, If you have any constructive comment, do it! I'm pretty sure I need to improve A LOT, but I can't do it if no one mark my mistakes and things to change >_


	5. Eden Prime - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search of the beacon gets complicated...

Shepard and Alenko walked to the top of the rocky formation, expecting troubles in every shadow. Luckily Kaidan had the time to configure his radar to detect synthetic enemies, and they can detect the enemy before hand and prepare to fight. 

 

They found some supplies on the way, like ammo, grenades and even some weapons and mods “The Alliance had the colony supplied, where are the platoons?” As an answer to Kaidan question, they listen the staccato of an assault rifle from the next valley. Moving as quickly and silently as possible, they approached the zone.

A single marine, with a white and pink armour, is running from a pair of drones. She take cover on a rock, and with efficiency, dealt with the hostiles. But then more enemies appeared, some kind of robots with shotguns and rifles. Kaidan and Shepard activated their barriers and entered the fray, using their biotics and tech attacks to destroy them. They are hard to kill, but soon they found a combination of attacks that deal with them: first an overload to lessen the shields, then a throw, a lift and a pair of point blanks shoots from Shepard’s shotgun. Some minutes later, they approached the marine, Kaidan loading the bio scan program in his omnitool.

The soldier gets up and saluted them, her other hand clasping the assault rifle “Thanks for your help. I didn't think I was gonna make it” she maintained the pose “Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You’re the one in charge here, ma’am?”

Shepard returned the salute briefly “At ease soldier, are you wounded Williams?”

Ashley lowered the hand but didn't relax her stance “A few scrapes and burns. Nothing serious. The others weren't so lucky” she looks tired and can't maintain eye contact with them.

Kaidan ended with the scan, and take out a painkiller, water and an energy bar from his med-bag “Take that Williams, you had some concussions and muscle breakage, but we can't treat it without taking off your armour”

Williams take the items and swallowed the pill, drinking all the water in one single move. 

Shepard waited until she eats the bar to continue. “Williams, I need some answers, give me a report”

Ashley stored the wrapping in her pocket and take a slow breath “Aye aye ma’am. We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. I've been fighting for my life ever since”

Shepard knew how she feel, her own experience in Elysium flowing “We received your vid, and came as soon as possible, but there are not anymore Alliance ships in the area. Where's the rest of your squad?”

Ashley toyed with the assault rifle, looking intensely to Shepard’s boots “We tried to double back to the beacon. But we walked into an ambush. I don't think any of the others… I think I'm the only one left”

Shepard put a hand on her shoulder “Don't blame yourself Williams. This isn't your fault. You couldn't have done anything to save them”

She nodded “Yes ma'am. We held our position as long as we could… until the geth overwhelmed us.

Kaidan was adjusting the radar program in his omnitool but stopped instantly and looks directly to Ashley “The geth haven't been seen outside the Veil in nearly two hundred years. Why are they here now?”

She looked over her shoulder signaling with the rifle “They must have come for the beacon. The dig site is close. Just over that rise, it might still be there”

Shepard looks to the death geth near them and make a decision “Williams, we could use your help. Want to join us?”

Ashley can hide her happiness “Aye aye mad'm. It's time for payback!”

Shepard takes her hand and give her a handshake “I'm Commander Shepard and he is Lieutenant Alenko, take us to the beacon chief”

 

They moved slowly, double checking any shadow and possible hideout. With the comm channel in private mode, they talked about Ashley assignment, Eden Prime and geth history. Finally they arrived to an area where some geths are struggling with a man, impaling him in a large metallic spear. Shepard activated her barrier and run directly to them, biotic power surging from her in waves, the Throw she launched was powerful enough to push them against the metallic pikes. She felt Kaidan’s energy behind her, and one of the geths starts floating. After some seconds, the red flash of a tech attack enveloped another one  _ “He's good with multitasking”  _

She brings her cannon to the one left, shooting point blank in the face of the geth, a rain of sparkles left where the head had been. She launched a Lift to the one incapacitated and left it for Ashley, moving directly to the first floating enemy. Kaidan was at her side, pistol in hand, ready for action. She's pissed with the synthetics, and wants to make them pay for what they did to the colony. She positioned herself near the geth, and used her shotgun to move him closer to her, taking an angry grip on one of the ankles, positioning him as she wants, aiming for the head and shooting directly in the ‘eye’. Kaidan has an eye on the one Ashley was dealing with, but they ended the combat quickly and without a scratch on the team.

 

Ashley approached the spike while changing the thermal clip “Hmm… Impaling victims instead of just shooting them… there must be some reason behind it”

Kaidan has an eye on the radar, just in case the shooting had attracted some extra attention “Classic psychological warfare. They’re using terror as a weapon. We saw that the man was alive when they stuck him on the spike”

Ashley kicked the spike angrily “Killing us isn’t enough, the geth want us to suffer’

Shepard moved away of the spike, in the direction of the beacon’s site “I’m planning to make them pay for every life they ended in this colony, let’s move”

 

Kaidan and Ashley take positions behind Shepard and they started moving to the dig site. When they approached to what seems a dead end of the road, Ashley stopped and signaled the area with her rifle “This is the dig site. The beacon was right here, it must have been moved, the research camp is over the ramp, maybe we can find some answers there”

Just then, the radar on theirs helmet beeped, and a group of geths appeared in the dig site. Shepard counted seven of them, and signaled to Kaidan and Ashley to take care of the ones of the right and left respectively, when they nodded agreement, she activated her barrier, waiting a little bit to let her biotics to recharge. Kaidan was doing the same, preparing a tech attack on his omnitool. When her powers are ready, she charged to the nearest geth, shotgun ready on hand, launching a Throw to the rest. She can feel Kaidan’s attack, and hear the staccato of Ashley’s rifle, but didn’t stop to see the results of their attacks, focusing herself in destroying her own targets. The one near her received a point blank shoot on the chest, falling to the ground. She passed quickly next to it, shooting again at the head while launching a Lift at one of the remaining geths.

Her shields and barrier absorbed some of the bullets directed to her, but the protection was beginning to fail, and she take cover near a crate until her powers recharged. 

She used the moment to check Kaidan and Ashley. The biotic had ended with his two targets quickly, perfect shoots aimed to the heads  _ “Impressive, he can do a lot of damage with this pistol and the biotics” _ Ashley was exchanging bullets with a heavy armored geth, and Kaidan was preparing a tech attack to help her. Shepard feels her amp cooling and readied a Throw, launching it while breaking cover, launching the geth several meters back. She was in front of him, aiming to the head before the machine can recover the equilibrium. She shoot the shotgun and hear a pistol near her, knowing instantly that Kaidan was taking care of the floating geth.

 

They cleared the area and moved to the ramp, Ashley explaining to them that the research camp was up the hill, near the little spaceport. Near the top, Shepard’s radio came to life with Nihlus voice on the channel “Change of plans, Shepard. There’s a small spaceport up ahead. I want to check it out. I’ll wait for you there”, she activated the comms “Understood Nihlus, we are on our way to the spaceport too. The beacon has been moved from the dig site, but we don’t know by who”

 

When they arrived to the research camp, they can see that the geth had hit it hard, a lot of broken crates and blood on the barracks doors. They found more spikes with impaled bodies, but suddenly one of them moved a leg. Kaidan readied his omnitool to examine the body “Oh, god! They’re still alive!” the spike retreated, bringing the body down, and when the ‘human’ touched the ground, the medical VI was beeping crazily “Those bodies are not human anymore! The VI detects them like synthetics!”

Shepard has her shotgun on hand before Kaidan ended talking “Let’s help them to find some peace” and she opened fire to the nearest one. Ashley was taking one of them with the butt of her weapon “What did the geth do to them?!” Kaidan launched a Throw and the pseudo-humans falled to the ground, and didn’t wake up again, but they ended them anyway with a shoot on the head. 

Kaidan used the medical VI to analyze the bodies “Now we know what those spikes are for: turning our own dead against us” Ashley looked troubled near him “It must take a few hours for those spikes to turn people into this ‘husks’”

Shepard can see a lot of spikes over the roofs and hills “They had enough time to impale half the colony in those spikes and if every human impaled turns in one of this husks, we need to stay alert” they responded with an “Aye aye commander” and moved to the camp.

 

Inside they found a pair of researchers in a closed building, and a group of labourers in the next, the last group giving them a chronology of the attack and some clues about what happened to the beacon: the research team had moved it to the spaceport for the pickup.

They moved to the train station, killing some husks on the way, and found a body near the stairs. Kaidan examined it while Shepard looks out for trouble “Commander, is Nihlus” she approached him and look to the body, seeing the war paint in the face, the spectre logo in the armor… she closed her eyes for a moment, breathing slowly “Spirits, take care of him and give me strenght to find the culprit” Kaidan looks at her, surprised, but remained silent, opening his omnitool to send the coordinates to Chawkas to recover the body when the mission ends. 

Ashley was keeping an eye for enemies, when movement catch her eye over the crates, near the body “Something’s moving! Over behind those crates!” they readied the weapons and then a men appeared from below the cover “Wait! Dont--don’t shoot! I’m one of you! I’m human!”

They relaxed the stance a bit, but didn’t low the weapons “What are you doing sneaking around back there?”

The men looks to his feets “I...I’m sorry. I was hiding. From those creatures. My name’s Powell, I saw what happened to that turian. The other one shot him”

That gets Shepard full attention and she lowered her shotgun “Tell me what happened. I need to know how Nihlus died”

Powell talked quickly but sure “The other one got here first. He was waiting when your friend showed up. He called him ‘Saren”. I think they knew each other. Your friend seemed to relax. He let his guard down.. And Saren killed him. Shot him right in the back”

Shepard was not listening to Powell anymore  _ “Another turian killed Nihlus? How the hell I’m supposed to explain this to the Alliance and the Council?” _

Kaidan can see the gears in Shepard’s brain working, so he started asking Powell about the attack, the beacon, the turian… He sends Powell with the other survivors over the hill and touched Shepard’s shoulder “We need to use the train, the beacon is on the spaceport, the other turian used it too” she nodded and readied her weapon, sending Ashley in front of them, changing the channel to private mode with Kaidan “Thanks” he activated his barrier before moving near Ashley “Anytime Shepard”.

They found a lot of geths defending the train access, and fighted their way to the controls, but in the end, they boarded the train and activated it. When the wagon stopped, they get off of the train to find a big bomb. Kaidan kneeled before the explosive “Shit, demolition charges! The geth must have planted them” 

Ashley looks to the boom, her brain making some calculations “If they wants to destroy the spaceport, they will have planted more than one. Hurry! We need to find them all and shut them down!”.

Unfortunately she was right, and they found five bombs, and a lot of geths between them and the bombs, but finally, they deactivated the bombs, Kaidan working on it while Shepard and Ashley take care of his back. At last, they entered the spaceport and can see the beacon on the last level, and found some geths and husks trying to stop them, but the ship they saw previously leaving the area must have left with almost of the enemies on it, so they made a quick job of them and neared the beacon.

Shepard contacted the ship “Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac. Send the ground teams to pick up the casualties and secure the colony”

Kaidan was examining the beacon “This is amazing! Actual working Prothean technology. Unbelievable!” Ashley was at his side, shrugging “It wasn’t doing anything like that when they dug it up. Something must have activated it” 

She left Kaidan there, examining intensely the beacon, and approached Shepard “ETA for the evacuation?” Just then, Shepard saw how Kaidan was being attracted to the beacon, and reacted by instinct, moving aside Ashley and running to Kaidan, colliding with him, and moving him out of the force field, but getting herself captured on the field.

Kaidan tried to move to her, but Ashley keep him from doing it “No! Don’t touch her! It’s too dangerous!”

Shepard’s body was lifted from the ground, pain showing on her face and static filling their radio channel. Some seconds passed and then the beacon exploded, launching Shepard some meters forward, leaving her motionless. Kaidan runs to her side and examined her quickly “She seems to be find, but I can’t wake her!” Just then the Normandy approaches the spaceport, and Kaidan pics Shepard’s body on his arms and wait for the cargo gate to open, before moving inside, when he and Ashley explained the situation to Anderson, before taking Shepard to the medbay.

He didn’t wait to see if the beacon was loaded on the Normandy or not, or even to help to deploy the ground teams, he was moving as quick as possible to the med bay. When they arrived, Chawkas was waiting for him “Lieutenant, report of her status”

He leave her on the bunk gently “I approached the beacon and must have been activated a force field. The field was attracting me to the beacon, and Shepard knocked me out of the trajectory, but get herself captured in my place. The force field lifted her for some seconds, and then the beacon exploded. I used the VI to check her on the ground, but she seems to be ok, but didn’t wake up, and she moved and groaned as if dreaming”

Chawkas was moving to her desktop “Take of your armor and then get her armor off, I will need your help while I get ready to check her brain”

He was taking off his armor as soon as the order left the doctor’s lips “Aye aye doc”. His armor made a pile near the wall, away of the bunks. When he was on his under armour, he started to unclasp her pieces, starting by the helmet. He can see her eyes moving quickly, and every now and then, a pained frown showed on her face, or her hands clenched for a moment. He left her in her under armour too, and pick a blanket from a closet to cover her.

The doctor started to move over her, examining her with the omnitool, connecting some diodes to her head “She was in a deep REM phase, abnormal readings in beta waves… but I think we only need to let her sleep for a while and wake up by herself” she recovered the diodes and fulfilled the report “I’ll leave her under your care Lieutenant, I need to help with the recovery of Jenkins and Nihlus bodies… poor boy, he was so full of life and eagerness…” she sighed before picking up some materials from the back room and exiting the room, leaving Kaidan alone with Shepard.

He looks to her, a clearly hurting frown on his face “Sorry Shepard, is my fault… I had to be on your place…” she clenched her hands again and a pained growl left her lips. He instinctively pick up one of her hands and put the other on her face “Easy Shepard, I’m here, I have your back… stay with me…” she seems to relax with his touch and words, and he takes the doctor chair and seated himself next to Shepard.

An hour later, Ashley entered the medbay “Hey LT, how is she?” Kaidan had her hand on his, but didn’t let her go“She didn’t wake, but the doctor say she will be fine. She seems to be dreaming, and not everything she see is good, because from time to time she was in pain. My touch seems to calm her…”

She only smiled to him “No problem LT. If you want, I can put a clean uniform in her while you change your clothes, I don’t know how much time she will be asleep, but the dirty under armour is not a good pyjamas”

He looks to their joined hands, and saw the dirt on his hands and her arms “Yeah, you are right Williams, I’ll bring you one of her uniforms and then go for a quick shower”

She moved to the bunk and put a hand on her shoulder “Bring some wet wipes to clean her and I will take care of the rest” he left her hand on her side and left the room in a hurry.

He moved quickly to the crew quarters, and found that Shepard didn’t unpacked her luggage. He opened the bag and try to find a clean uniform without disturbing the rest of the items, but when he was taking out the pants, a little box dropped and rolled under the bunk “Shit!” he kneeled and searched for the box. He founds it and pick it up, but the box is open now, and he can see clearly what lie inside: the Star of Terra, a chain with a pair of wedding rings, and three little rings, clearly children-size, an N7 badge, some other medals and tokens… he closed the box and left it in the bag, picking up the uniform and leaving the room. He entered to the bathroom and take a wipes package.

When he entered the medbay, the doctor was there “Lieutenant, good idea changing Shepard clothes, I’ll help Williams cleaning and dressing her, take a shower and eat something. I can take care of her for a while, don’t worry, I’m not relieving you of your duty” he pass the items to Ashley “Aye aye doctor” 

He left the medbay in a hurry, picking up his own uniform and toiletries bag from the crew quarters. Kaidan takes a quick shower, enough to clean the sweat and dirt from the mission but not enough to relax his aching muscles, but he wants to be back to the medbay as soon as possible. He makes a quick job drying himself and dressing up, the under armour left in the laundry box. He tries to comb his hair, but finally he decided to let it dry, using his fingers to make himself presentable, dark curls falling over his temple. He left the bag on his bed and moved to the kitchen to pick up a meal and water. While heating the rations, Anderson approached him and asked for a report. Kaidan explain everything to him: from how they had lost Jenkins, how they found Ashley and his good work on the ground, about the geths and the husks, about Nihlus and that ‘Saren’... and assumed full responsibility on Shepard state. The captain dismissed the last part, assuring him that the beacon have caused some casualties, if not in the ground team, in the engineers who were assigned to move the beacon to the Normandy, so it was something inevitable. He asked him twice if the name of the other turian was ‘Saren’ and about Williams and if he thinks she had to stay onboard, he answered affirmative to booth questions. When he was dismissed, he served the rations in a plate and takes the tray to the med bay. Ashley was seated in a chair, near the bunk, a hand resting on Shepard’s forehead “The doctor is on the back room, resting, dealing with the bodies had left her tired…”

He approached to them and left the tray in the desktop and nodded to her “Understandable. Did you eat something?” he takes the water and drink half the bottle.

She smiled to him “No LT, the captain stopped me before coming here, but now that you are back, I can leave Skipper to you and rest for a bit, but I’ll wait until you ended your meal. You are right, she needs physical contact to relax, and you can’t give that to her if you need your hands to eat”

He leaned on the desktop and takes the plate from the tray “Thanks Williams” he eats his rations as quickly as he can “Are you staying with us Williams?” she shrugged “The Captain said that until my new assignation cames from the headquarters, I will stay on the Normandy” He smiled to her, ending his plate and leaving it on the tray “I’m sure that my opinion and Shepard’s can help with that, wait until she wakes and we will talk with the captain about it”

She gives him a broad smile “Thanks LT, I hope you are right, staying on the Normandy, and with ‘THE’ Commander Shepard would be like a dream” 

Ashley takes off her hand and gets up from the chair “Take care of her LT” she takes the tray, giving him the bottle of water “I’ll come back in some hours if you want to rest for a while”

He moved to the chair and takes Shepard’s hand on his “Sure, thanks Williams”.


	6. Of beacons and meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beacon hits Shepard hard, and left her out of combat for ours. But the world didn't stop with her, and a meeting with the Council is planned to expose their case against Saren.
> 
> Time to see how the Council takes the news...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading my fanfic! As you can see, I'm making minor changes to the dialogues between the characters, and turning the commander in a more sweet and funny person. If this change is not ok with you, that's cool ;) everyone imagine a different personality for the same character. 
> 
> I'm including a lot of conversation... if you found it hard to read or follow, please, leave a comment and I'll try to improve it ;)

Shepard drifted between dreams and reality, her mind filled of gore images and creepy feelings. She can feel a warm hand on her forehead and another resting on her side, holding her hand. Her eyes opened slowly, trying to discover where is she. Kaidan’s face appeared over her, the hand in her forehead changing to cup her face “Shepard! Doctor Chawkas? I think she’s waking up” Karin’s face moved besides Kaidan with a smile “I think you are right Lieutenant, how are you feeling Commander?”

 

Shepard protected her eyes from the bright light with her hand “Like the day after a crazy shore leave. How long I was out?” She gets up of the bed, with some help from the doctor.

Chawkas moved to her desktop and starts typing on her terminal “About fifteen hours. Something happened down there with the beacon”

Kaidan had moved to the next bunk and looks defeatedly to his boots “It’s my fault… I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way.

She just dismissed the fact with a movement of the hand “Don’t blame yourself Alenko, you had no way to know what would happen. 

Chawkas returned to her side, omnitool opened, and starts scanning her “Actually, we don’t even know if that’s what set it off, but the Lieutenant is ignoring everyone opinion on this topic… Unfortunately, we’ll never get the chance to find out.”

Shepard looked to the doctor “What do you mean? Where’s the beacon now? What happened to it?”

Kaidan looks ashamed again “The beacon exploded. A system overload, maybe. The blast knocked you cold. Williams and I had to carry you back here to the ship”

She smiled to him “Thanks, I appreciate it, but I hope no one will talk about my weight over the nexts meals” He can’t fight the smile growing in his face “No worries Commander, I’m a gentleman, no talking about age or weight”

 

The doctor tried to ignore their chitchat, running some exams on Shepard “Physically, you’re fine. But I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves. I also noticed an increase in your REM, signs typically associated with intense dreaming”

Shepard closed her eyes for a moment “More like a nightmare. I saw… I’m not sure what I saw. Death. Destruction. Nothing’s really clear” Chawkas moved again to her terminal “I better add this to my report”

 

Just then, the captain entered the medbay “How’s our XO holding up, Doctor?”

Kaidan and Shepard saluted him, while Chawkas answered the question “All the readings look normal. I’d say the Commander’s going to be fine” Anderson nodded the her “Glad to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you--in private”

Kaidan saluted again “Aye aye sir, I’ll be in the mess if you need me”

 

When they are alone, Anderson asked about the mission, filling the gasp on the reports of Alenko and Williams. It seems they are in route to the Citadel, they have an appointment with the Council to talk about Saren  _ “Great… politicians…”  _ He tried to take Jenkins’s dead from her shoulders, but knew it was a waste of time, she felt for every person who dies on her watch. He talked about Williams, the beacon and this ‘Saren’, who seems to have a grudge against humanity, but to make the mission an easy one, he’s one of the best and oldest spectres of the Council. She talked with him about the nightmares, and he insisted to include it on the report, but she’s not happy about it. When they ended, he tells her that they have and ETA time to the Citadel of two hours, and the ground team will accompany her to the embassies.

 

She left the medbay, and finds Kaidan on the mess, sitting on the table “Hey Commander, how are you feeling?” she saw then that he had two trays of food before him, and move one of them in her direction “Fifteen hours sleeping must have made you hungry”

She smiled and sit with him “Thanks Alenko, I’m famished!” they eated in companionable silence for a while, until she ended half of her plate “I have to admit that this is not how I imagined the first mission would end… Jenkins’s dead, Eden Prime devastation, Nihlus, the beacon… a lot of bad things happened, and I can feel is only the beginning”

He searched on his pockets and takes a chocolate bar, throwing it at her “I’m happy that we didn’t lose you too”

She opened the bar and chewed it happily “About that… thanks for your help, I can tell that you stayed with me all the time, and I had glimpses of comfort during my nightmares”

He was touching his neck nervously “I knew you will do the same for me. As soon as we brought you I saw that you are dreaming and that physical contact relaxed you… Williams helped too, she taked care of your uniform, and stayed with you while I eat or sleep for a while”

She nodded “Drinks are on me when we hit the Citadel”

He looks surprised “The Citadel? Are we going there?” she gets up taking the tray to the kitchen area “Yeah, we’ll have a little chat with the Council… I suppose they want to know that one of their spectres had gone rogue. You and Williams have to come with me, Captain orders”

He moved near her, taking to mugs from the cabinet, giving one to her to put the hot water while he served himself a coffee “It’s been a hell of a shakedown cruise. Our first mission ends with one Spectre killing another. The Council’s not going to be happy about that. Probable use it to lever more concessions out of the Alliance”

She arched a brown “Seems like you’ve been around. You got a good grasp of the situation. You are a career man?”

He takes the thea box from the cabinet and gives it to her “Yeah, a lot of biotics are, but in my case, my father served. Made him proud when I enlisted. Eventually… But is that why you’re here? Because of your family?”

She almost drop the box “You can say that… we were farmers, my family were homesteaders on Mindoir. I’m the only one left, but I’ve moved beyond that”

He recovered the box to store it again “Sorry, didn’t want to make you feel bad…”

She smiled to him while sniffing her thea “No worries. Like I said, I’ve moved, but seeing Eden Prime today makes me remember some bad memories”

He sipped his coffee “Yeah, I know the feeling…” he wanted to light the mood “talking about feelings, I hope you are not angry with me, but I opened your bag to pick up a clean uniform for Ashley to change you, you haven’t unpacked yet”

She start laughing “Only if you didn’t find my lingerie” he can feel the blood reaching his face “No! I didn’t rummaged! Only moved the upper part!” she was laughing openly “I’m joking Alenko, no worries here, we are marines, we sleep together, shower together, I will not feel ashamed for a fellow marine touching my things”

He left the mug on the counter, crossing his arms “You have a twisted sense of humour Shepard”

She stick her tongue out “You enjoyed it when is directed to Joker”

He raises his arms in surrender “Touché”.

Her omnitool beeped “Well, we have forty minutes to get ready. Let’s go to the cargo bay to equip and talk with Williams, then we can go to the cockpit and have some fun with Joker”

 

They left the mugs on the sink and walked to the elevator, but while waiting for it, Kaidan saw himself reflected on the metal doors “Shit, I need to go to the crew quarters, can’t go to the Citadel with this hair” She laughed to that “I like this style, but I suppose this locks are not permitted on the Alliance” He passed his hand through his hair “Yeah, they can force me to cut it out if I left the ship with that crazy hair”.

She moved to the crew quarters “Like I said, I like it, it’s a shame we have to live with all this stupid regulations…” She checked again the time on her omnitool “Maybe I can take a real shower while you battle with your hair” he approached his bunk “Ha ha, so funny Commander, is like your crazy red hair was included in the regulations” she writes a message to Williams telling about the meeting at the Citadel and to get ready en fifteen minutes “They made a special footnote only for me. It cames with the Star of Terra”

 

They pick up their toiletries bags and walked to the communal showers, the moment hitting them when she started to undress. He tried to concentrate in combing his hair, putting a lot of gel on it to fix it to a presentable hairstyle. The water starts running and she hummed happily “I need it after all the ashes and dirt in Eden Prime. Williams did a good job but nothing like the real thing” He ended with the mirror, and was deciding if he have to leave or wait for her, when she emerged from the shower, a towel over her body and another one drying up her hair. He can’t fight it and he stared her body, from toe to head, and can say she was enjoying it 

“Well LT, maybe you need to give me a little of privacy to dress” she winked to him, and he can feel his face going to a new shade of red when he turned his back to her “I can wait outside if you want” He hear the towel hitting the floor “Don’t worry, I’ll be quick. Williams is waiting for us” 

He tried to keep his eyes closed, but at the end, his curiosity takes the best of him and opened them, seeing her reflection on the mirror, she was closing her bra, black sport panties to match. He obliged himself to close the eyes again, but knew that the image will be replayed in his mind over and over. A minute later, he hear her footsteps nearing him “Ready, let me comb my hair a bit and we can go” he can see her drying her hair with the towel without any care, creating knots. She then picks up a comb and start fighting with it “Give me that comb before you hurt yourself! You always attack your hair like that? Because if this what you do everyday, I don’t know how you still have any hair in your head!” he moved behind her, and start combing her hair, lock by lock, undoing the knots carefully. She shivered under the touch and sighed happily when his hand moved over her head, caressing her scalp “It's been ages since someone cared for me like that, thanks Kaidan” She moved her head to the side to look at him “If you continue to spoil me like that, I can get used to it”

He smiled to her, giving her the comb back “You are welcome” she opened her mouth to say something, but closed it, moving her head as if erasing an idea “Time to move, I want to stay on the cockpit when we docked, is a beautiful sight” He nodded and pick up his bag, moving to the door while she picks her items.

 

They left the bags on the crew quarter and moved to the elevator again, going down to the cargo bay. Williams had their armours and weapons ready “It’s good to see you on your feet Skipper, you scared the shit out of us when the beacon exploded”

 

Shepard takes the hand of Williams and give her a half hug “Thanks for your help Williams, and welcome to the Normandy, I’m more than happy to have you onboard, hope the Alliance let you stay with us for as long the missions last”

She give her a big smile “Thanks Commander, it means a lot coming from you. I’ll do my best!” she signaled their armours “I cleaned the pieces and readied the weapons, had a lot of free time while you sleep”

Shepard started to unclip her uniform “Thanks Williams, I appreciated it, everything you did for me today. As I said to Alenko, the drinks are on me when we hit the Citadel”

 

They helped each other to equip while Shepard explained the reason of their trip. When they are full equipped and with the weapons ready, they moved to the elevator “So LT, do you know any protocol? Any advice on how to act in front of an ambassador? I don’t meet many politicians…” Kaidan was on the back of the elevator checking his pistol “An ambassador? I just follow standard operational procedure - Salute anything you can’t eat or kill” 

The three of them entered the CIC laughing, Ashley poking Kaidan’s side “Good point LT, but remember, the Asari are part of the Council, and some people loves to ‘eat’ them”

 

They entered the cockpit still laughing, Kaidan blushes while Ashley and Shepard made fun of him. Joker turned his head “Can you share the joke? I feel lonely since my copilot decided to babysitting you Commander”

She moved near his chair and sit on the armpit “Maybe if you shave he will spend more time with you” she takes her cap and put on herself “See? A clean face make that cap looks better”

Joker recovers his cap from her “Well, that beard is part of my charm. Any reason for the three of you occupying my little space?” 

Kaidan sits on the copilot seat and Ashley positioned herself near him “Yeah, the Captain wants to dock on the Citadel as soon as possible, and that’s a sight to enjoy”

The pilot winked to her “Then you will enter the Citadel in the most stylish way of your life, we just passed the relay, so we will arrive to the station in two minutes” he signaled the right side of the window “The Citadel will appear there soon” he moved closer to Shepard and whisper her “It’s good to see you on one piece Shepard” she touched his arm “It’s good to be back” 

Just then, the Citadel appeared on their range of vision. Ashley moved closer to the window “Wow! I never been there before, only read about it, but the vids didn’t make any justice to that place” Kaidan was about to say something when they passed near the Destiny Ascension and Ashley was again open mouthed “Look at the size of that ship!” He signaled to the ship “The Destiny Ascension, flag ship of the Citadel Fleet”

They joked about sizes with Joker, who seems to take personally any comment comparing the Normandy with other ships. When they are near the Citadel, he contacted the Control, asking for permission to dock, and they assigned the dock 422 to them.

Shepard contacted Anderson to let him know they are docking and the ground team is ready. He walked to the cockpit while the final sealings closed on the Normandy from the docking bay “I’ll go to Udina office, we need to talk to the Council and see if they want to have a meeting with us or not regarding Saren, I’ll met you there in a while” the three of them saluted him while he lefts “Anyone wants to take the long route to Udina’s office?” Ashley almost jumped happily “Hell yeah Skipper!”

 

They entered the decontamination area, waiting for the green light to leave the ship, and Shepard was trying to decide where to go first “Udina’s office is at the presidium, we can start with the wards and then take a cab to the lake” Ashley nodded and Kaidan smiled to her “I knew of a place on the wards where you can have real hot chocolate with cream” the VI opened the door and they moved to the elevator of the docking area “Alenko… show the way!” They entered the lift laughing, a knowing smile fixed in Ashley’s face. The elevator brings them to the C-Sec office, and Shepard moved directly to the Rapid Trans terminal. They jumped into the car and the automatic pilot starts the engine and enter the crazy traffic of the Citadel. Kaidan and Shepard sat in the front, with Ashley in the back, and pass the time signaling interesting spots or good views to herf.

 

When the skycar stopped on the wards, Kaidan brings them to a side street, and then to the left, a dead end street in front of them “There we are, ‘Earth’s spirit’” 

They entered the little cafe, and sat on a round table away from the door. A little quarian showed to their table, menu in hand. Kaidan asked the girls if they wanted chocolate and cookies, two grown marines nodding like little girls, a burst of laugh following the poor waitress on her way to the kitchen. 

The chocolate came some minutes later, with some gigantic cookies. Shepard watched how the waitress put her mug before her, and when the three of them have their share, she used a finger to take a bit of cream, lapping it happily. She used the spoon to taste the chocolate, and a contented hum left her lips “Right now, I could kiss you Lieutenant” Kaidan almost choke on his chocolate, his cheeks turning red, and Ashley’s laugh only make the situation worse for him. Shepard decided to cut the chase on the poor lieutenant, grabbing a cookie and talking directly to Ashley “Cut the crap Chief or I will steal all your cream” using the cookie to take some of the cream on her mug. Ashley moved the mug out of Shepard’s range “Aye aye commander, no more teasing on the poor LT… for now” Kaidan had relaxed again and was enjoying his own cookie, trying to ignore the nature of the conversation between the two womens.

 

They ated and drank in silence for a while, and when they ended with the chocolates, Shepard walked to the waitress and payed the bill, moving a hand when the two marines started to complain “I said the drinks are on me… chocolate counts as drinks, you can pay the beers the next time”

 

Shepard can’t delay anymore the visit to Udina’s office, but at least she is in a good mood. They moved to the rapid trans and selected the Embassies, hoping for a long ride “Anderson is supposed to ease the meeting, presenting our report to Udina and the Council, with any luck, we don’t need to talk with them, but luck is eluding us recently, so prepare yourselves to deal with a bunch of politicians…” Ashley nodded and Kaidan vocalized the answer “Aye aye mad’m”

 

The skycar stopped just outside the embassies, and the marines looked impressed with the environment. They stopped for a moment near the lake, enjoying the view, Ashley concentrated in the flowers dotting the area, and Kaidan fixed in the mass effect statue in the center of the lake. Shepard let's them a few moments before start moving towards the human embassy “I gather that you have never been in the Presidium before?” Kaidan shrugged “Yeah, never been beyond the wards, I only been on the Citadel for two shore leaves and a handful of quick dockings to refuel or make reparations” Shepard smiled over her shoulder “Well, when we ends with this I will show you the area, and we can take Williams to the wards, I want to bring her to the markets and the Flux!”

 

They stopped on the door of the human embassy and talked with the secretary, who opens the door “The ambassador is waiting for you”. They entered the room and approached to Udina and Anderson. The captain saw them and makes a sign to stop them where they are. Udina is arguing with the Council over a vidcomm, angrily remarking Saren’s paper on the attack on Eden Prime, the councilors dismissing his words with a “We’ll talk on the meeting” before closing the connection. Shepard has tried to prepare herself for the politician tantrum, but it hit her anyway. After some angry comments against Shepard and the mission, the ambassador left the room, instructing them to meet with the council on the Council tower, Anderson leaving with him, an apologetic look on his face. When the door close, Ashley’s comment illustrate the sentiment of the team “And that's why I hate politicians”. Shepard smiled to her “Aye aye Chief, but we have our orders. We can walk to the tower and enjoy the presidium for some minutes before we left them kick our asses again at the Council tower”

 

They left the embassies and moved over the bridge. Shepard stopped near the center and lean over the railing “At night this view is even better, with the stars dotting the lake… it’s one of my favourite spots on the presidium” Ashley kicked her side playfully “The great Commander had a sweet side! I have the cutest superiors of the Alliance” Shepard chuckled at the comment “Sure Ash, but I can kick your ass with my cute boot” Kaidan wasn't sure what to think about the comment “I’m sure you are the only person besides my mother who called me cute Williams” Shepard moved from the railing and stop herself in front of him “Really Alenko? What kind of monsters had you served with?” He was studying intently her boots “People don’t call something like cute to a biotic” She punched him on the shoulder “Bullshit, you are cute, don’t let anyone say you otherwise… or better, let them do it and then I will show them how cute a Throw can be” Ashley moved a hand signaling them “See? You two are super cute!”

Kaidan only turns over his heels and starts moving “We have to go, the Council is waiting”

Ashley and Shepard stayed behind for a while, leaving some space to Kaidan “That was weird Skipper” they started to move, walking slowly “Yeah… I’ll try to talk to him when we are back on the Normandy” When they finally catch up with him, he was near the tower, looking towards the lake. 

 

Shepard moved near him and stopped “We can’t delay the meeting anymore… let’s fight another kind of war” she smiled to them and moved to the lift. The ride to the top of the tower was silent, news about Eden Prime filling the space. They left the lift and found two turians arguing, one of the was the executor Pallin, and the one sounded offended wore the C-Sec uniform. As they approach the pair, they found that the conversation is about the investigation of Saren. When Pallin saw the coming, ended the conversation and left the area towards the council. The C-Sec agent presents himself as Garrus Vakarian, and wish them luck with the Council, knowing that they had stopped the investigation before he can discover anything useful. They agree to have a long talk after the meeting, because the agent is not happy with the Council decision and wants to see Saren paying for his crimes.

When Vakarian left the tower, they approached the Council chambers. Anderson was waiting for them at the foot of the stairs, his long face talking for him. 

 

Udina was arguing with them about the defense of the human colonies, Saren’s behaviour, Nihlus death, but they are ignoring everyone of his words. They even invited Saren to join the meeting, giving his words all the veracity they are denying the humans. When the meeting ends, Udina approaches them “It was a mistake bringing you into that hearing, Captain. You and Saren have too much history. It makes the Council question our motives” Anderson simply nodded “Yes, I know Saren. He’s working with the geth for one reason: to exterminate the entire human race. Every colony we have is at risk. Every world we control is in danger. Even Earth isn’t safe” Shepard crossed her arms “Then we need to deal with Saren ourselves” Udina looked a last time to the Council chambers before continue “As a Spectre, he’s virtually untouchable. We need to find a way to expose him” Kaidan moved besides her “What about Garrus, that C-Sec investigator? We saw him arguing with the executor” Ashley enters the conversation too “That’s right! He was asking for more time to finish the report. Seems like he was close to finding something on Saren”

“Any idea how to find him?” Shepard looked directly to Anderson “You should talk to Barla Von. Over the financial district. Rumor has it he’s an agent for the Shadow Broker. He might know something about Saren. But this information won’t come cheap”

Shepard salute him, Ashley and Kaidan doing the same “We’ll contact you as soon as possible”

The ambassador and the captain left the tower, giving them instructions to find them at the embassies when they have something.

Shepard leaned for a moment on the stairs railing “Politicians, uh? And they are planning to put me in their hands? In times like this, sucks to be me…” Ashley punched her on the arm “It’s not that bad Skipper” Kaidan nodded behind Ashley “Spectre Shepard… I like the idea, and although the Spectre are part of the Council, they act more freely that you can imagine”

She sighed sadly “Whatever… the decision was made for me and they are counting on me to do my best. Let’s go to the financial district to see that Barla Von”

 


	7. Follow the leads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search of proofs against Saren brings Shepard and the rest of the team to some crazy moments and new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I was at the hospital... my lungs decided to gave me some fun for xmas >___<
> 
> I'll try to catch up with the story, want to start with the spicy moments :P
> 
> As always, if you have any comment to help me get better writing, or found some horrible mistake that needs to be corrected, only send a word and I'll do my best ;)

The team left the Council chambers, luckily they will find a skycar available at the Rapid Trans service just down the stairs. Ashley saw a suspicious salarian scanning a keeper, and knowing that is forbidden to disturb them, they inquired him about it. It seems he and an associate have discovered a way to scan the keepers, like a medical device, non intrusive. They want to obtain enough data to knew the origins and real nature of them, because no one knew where they come from, how they live, how they work, they are another big secret on the Citadel, but no one has any intention to decipher it. Ashley didn’t like the idea, but the analytic brain of Kaidan and Shepard’s curiosity wins, and they agree to help him to scan the keepers. While Chorban sends the program to their omnitools, Shepard saw a familiar face near a comm post. They say their goodbyes to Chorban and she moved directly to the admiral. The other two followed but didn’t know what's happening. She stopped two steps behind him and salute him “Admiral Kahoku, sir, it’s a pleasure to see you again”

 

The admiral looks to her over his shoulder, and a little smile shows in his face for a second “Commander Shepard, nice to see you alive and kicking” he extended a hand and she takes it gratefully “Yes, sir, I’m doing my best. What’s bring you to the Council, sir? You seems troubled”

 

He deny with his head “I am Commander, but I can’t talk about it. I’m crashing again and again with the Council asking for their help”

 

She lows her head and brings a hand to her neck, a posture that Kaidan knows too well to pass it “Well sir, I can say that it’s probably my fault. I bring some news from Eden Prime that the Council don’t want to hear, and their animosity against the human race is growing with every meeting we have… maybe you can talk with Captain Anderson? I’m sure he can help you, we are working with the ambassador”

 

Kohaku seems to think about it for a moment “Commander, I’m pretty sure that your relations with the Council are not the reason I’m been ignored openly, because the Alliance is doing the same. I can’t say no more for now, but thanks for trying to help”

 

She saluted him again “Anytime Admiral, I owe you my life, you know that whatever you need, if is in my hands, I will help you”

 

He can’t hide the smile in his face “Stop the crap Commander, we talked about it, you don’t owe me anything, but I’m grateful for the offer anyway. See you around” he returns to the comm device and they moved to the Rapid Trans again.

 

The skycar arrived quickly, and they marked the Financial District in the destination panel. When the car starts moving, Kaidan’s curiosity wins the battle “Commander, you knew the Admiral well?” she nodded slightly “Yeah… long history and not enough beer on me to share it, but the short version is that he was on the head of one of the teams who arrived first to Elysium, and his team secured my position and tended my wounds until I can be brought to the orbit”

 

Ashley vocalized the mutual sentiment “Wow, now I want to buy you the beers to knew the rest, and pay some beers to the Admiral too”

 

Shepard laughed, but it’s obvious that she don’t like the idea “You will need a lot of beer and possibly a pair of bottles of good whisky to release my tongue”

 

Ash punched her shoulder over the seat “Skipper, that's sounds like a challenge. I’m saving for a new sniper rifle, but I’ll gladly spend my savings in getting you drunk”

 

She reclined herself on the seat and put a mischievous smile “And you two in drunk state, and near of one another… yeah, I’ll pay gladly”

 

Kaidan looks to her, furrowed brows “How I ended being a part of the drink competition?”

She laughed like a little girl “Because I want to know all your little dirty secrets, and better to have everything in one night, more fun to me!”

 

The skycar stopped on the presidium and they left the car, Shepard moving ahead of them “Playtime is over team, we have a mission, if we find the evidences and uncovers Saren, I’ll pay the first round on Flux, but we need to focus”

An ‘Aye aye mad’m’ sounded while she opened the door to Barla Von’s office. 

 

As soon as they approached the desk, the volus greeted them “What’s this? One of the Earth clan? Ah, a very famous one, yes? You are the one called Shepard. It is a great honor to welcome the hero of the Blitz”

 

She crossed her arms, as always, she hates when people know who she is “You’ve got me in disadvantage here” The volus crocked his head and moved a hand to his chest “Forgive me, Earth-clan. My name is Barla Von. My job makes it necessary for me to keep informed. I’m a financial advisor to many important clients on the Citadel. When someone as important as yourself arrives on the station, I take notice”

 

She nodded slightly “I was told to talk to you. As a Shadow Broker agent, do you have any information about Saren?”

 

To her surprise, Barla Von seems to be laughing “You’re very blunt, Shepard. But you’re right, I am an agent for the Shadow Broker, and I do know something about Saren”

 

She smiled to him, her direct approach may have ended worse than that “I hear your information can be expensive, can we make a deal?”

 

“Normally, this information would cost a small fortune, but these are exceptional circumstances. So I’m going to give it to you for free” Shepard can hear her team moving behind her, and Ashley was the one to vocalize the thought “Ok… What’s the catch?”

 

The volus sounded amused, if you can identify some tone leaving the filters of his suit “There is no catch. The Shadow Broker is quite upset with Saren right now. They used to do a lot of business. Until Saren turned on him”

 

Shepard smiled to him “I can relate… Saren’s turned on a lot of people lately” Barla Von nodded “Yes. And about Saren, I don’t know the details, but the Shadow Broker hired a freelancer to deal with it. A krogan mercenary.” Shepard arched a brow “That’s not much to go on”

 

“I just told you the most famous Spectre in the galaxy betrayed the Shadow Broker. Quite a bargain, considering the price. Speak with the krogan if you want to learn more. I heard he was paying a visit to Citadel Security. If you hurry you might catch him before he leaves the Academy”

 

Shepard knew that the krogan was not in C-Sec in his own will, so they need to hurry to catch him there “Thanks for the info Barla Von, hope we can collaborate again in the future”

The volus nodded and returned his attention to the terminal in front of him “My pleasure Earth-clan, good luck”

 

They left the volus office and walked directly to the Rapid trans terminal. Shepard stopped before the terminal and face her team “Ok… we have two leads, I want to hear your opinion about which one we have to follow first: The krogan mercenary at C-Sec or this awful guy called Harkin on Chora’s den…”

 

Ashley looks to her clearly surprised “First time a superior ask for my opinion Skipper… nice to have the opportunity to speak freely. I’ll go for the krogan, if C-Sec have him in custody, we need to speak with him before he free himself”

 

Kaidan is looking intensely to the lake, clearly thinking “I see your point Chief, but maybe we need to find officer Vakarian, he seems to knew something, and we can use his help. If I have to chose, I prefer to work with a C-Sec officer than a mercenary contracted to kill Saren…”

 

Shepard stretched her back with a swift movement, the bones in her neck cracking soundly “Both options seems correct, sounds like we need to chose one of them to be the first. But I can’t see why we can’t follow booth of the leads, one after the other. We can pay a visit to Chora’s den, and try to find where Garrus is, with any luck, he will be at C-Sec and we can kill two birds with one stone”

 

Ashley smiled to her while Kaidan only nodded, still deep in his thoughts “Then, to Chora’s den Skipper! LT, are you ready to see some blue skin?” Shepard laugh while calling the Rapid trans ‘Easy Williams, all of us can enjoy the visit to Chora’s, don’t tease Alenko only for being a man”

Ashley punched Kaidan’s arm softly “Aye aye ma'am, but is not because he is a man, is because is funny”

 

The cab arrived and they entered, Chora’s den selected as the destination. Kaidan sits besides Shepard “I only been there one time before, the lights and hard music give me headaches, if I have to go to a club, I normally chose the Flux”

 

She put her hand on his arm “If your head start to feel the ambient, you can left the club without worries, don’t want to be the cause of a bad headache or even a migraine. We only need to talk to a man” He blushed and move his gaze to the window “Thanks, I can manage it mad’m”

 

She let his arm go “I know you can, I’m only saying that you don’t need to push yourself”

The skycar left them near the club and they get out quickly. While the team walked to the corridor leading to Chora’s den, Shepard feels a shiver down her spine, moving rapidly a hand to her shotgun and talking in whispers “I have a bad feeling, be ready”.

 

Ashley and Kaidan unholster their weapons, and together, they entered the corridor. Shepard’s intuition was correct, as they moved to the club, a group of turian’s assassins opens fire on them. Kaidan and Shepard lifted two of them, and launched a Throw to the other one, while Ashley ended the combat with her assault rifle.

 

They holstered their weapons and Kaidan approached one of the bodies to inspect it “Those were Saren’s men, we need to send a call to C-Sec to inform” Shepard opened a vidcom to Anderson “Sir, we have a problem. A group of Saren’s men attacked us just outside Chora’s Den. Can you deal with it while we talk with Harkin?”

Ashley and Kaidan can’t hear the Captain’s response, but when Shepard close the vidcom and moved to the club door, they knew that he will take care of the problem.

 

The club has low lights, but some red and blue lights danced on the over the walls. A round bar occupied the center space, the outside of the room filled with tables and chairs, and some lap dance areas. Human and asari girls danced on the podiums or over the bar, their outfits covering only the necessary. 

 

Ashley stopped just at the door, crossing her arms “A million light years from where humanity began and we walk into a bar filled with men drooling over half-naked women shaking their asses on a stage. I can’t decide if that’s funny or sad” Kaidan chuckles to that “What? You don’t think they’re here because of the food? But I can see why this place is so popular. It’s got quite the… view”

The three of them broke laughing while Ashley teased Kaidan a bit more “Hey, Lieutenant, put your tongue back in your mouth before you trip on it”

 

Shepard start moving to the bar, trying to catch the bartender's attention, asking about Harkin when she approached. The girl signaled discreetly to a table near the end of the room. With a thanks, the team left the bar and moved to the table.

 

Before they can say a word, the man started talking, and Kaidan have to control his hand to reach his pistol “Hey there, sweetheart. You look for some fun? ‘Cause I gotta say that soldier looks real good on that body of yours. Why don’t you sit your sweet little ass down beside old Harkin? Have a drink and we’ll see where this goes’

 

Shepard unholster her pistol, letting the cannon rest on the table “I’d rather drink a cup of acid after chewing on a razor blade.”

He repositioned himself on the chair, crossing the legs “You trying to hurt my feelings? You gotta do better than that. After twenty years with C-Sec, I’ve been called every name in the book, princess”

 

Shepard’s patience is ending, she always hated when the men talk to her like that “Call me princess again and you’ll be picking your teeth up off the floor. Now tell me where Garrus is!’

He raised his hand in surrender “Okay, okay. Just relax. Garrus, you say? Heh, you must be on of the Anderson’s crew. Poor bastard’s still trying to bring Saren down, eh? I know where Garrus is. But you gotta tell me something first. Did the captain let you in on his big secret?”

Shepard play with her pistol, unloading and loading the thermal clip “Of course, we know about his spectre test and his past with Saren, but we will bring him down for what he made on Eden Prime. I’m sure you saw about the attack on the news, almost a full colony was killed by him”

He shifted uncomfortable on the chair “Yeah, I saw the vids… Ok, Garrus was sniffing around Dr. Michel’s office. She runs the med clinic on the other side of the wards. Last I heard, he was going back there.”

She holstered the weapon and nodded to Harkin “Thanks for the help, enjoy your free time”

 

Without waiting for a response, she walks double time to the door.

When they left the club, Ashley put a hand on her shoulder “Hey Skipper, are you alright?”

 

She stopped and take a deep breath “Yeah, in times like this I hate to be a marine”

The pair of them looked to her surprised, Kaidan moving near to her and giving her hand a quick press out of Ashley view. She closed her eyes for a moment, and shakes her head “Don’t worry, it’s nothing… men tends to talk to me like I’m a piece of meat… I didn’t survived Mindoir and Elysium for this shit. If I wasn’t a marine…”

 

Kaidan put a hand on her arm “Commander, I just barely resisted the urge to Throw him over the club. You have a better control than me”

 

Ashley simply smiled to her “Well Skipper, I have to say a thing on his favour: he’s right, you look yummie with your armor and your weapons” Shepard punched hard her shoulder, but can’t hide a little smile. Ashley tried to sound offended “Hey Skipper, it’s the truth! I’m sure the LT can confirm it, you are hot! Deadly and strong, but hot”

 

The hand that Kaidan has on her arm fall and he blushed slightly “I have eyes Williams… but I don’t vocalize that kind of thoughts aloud” he moved a hand to his neck “Thanks for the awkward moment Chief”

 

The three of them started laughing, but the moment was short, the weight of the mission heavy on their shoulders. Shepard was the first to stop, stretching her back and neck to relax a bit “Ok, as much as I’ll love to stay here and talk about how hot my team is, we need to find a turian. We should go”

 

Kaidan blushed again, but opened his omnitool to look at the map “Yeah… we can use the Rapid trans if you want, the clinic have a stop just outside, or we can walk to there, only 2 klicks”

Shepard nodded “Thanks Alenko, it will be quicker if we use the Rapid trans, and we need the time”

 

They moved to the Rapid trans, as quick as they can and, luckily, the skycar arrived almost immediately. After a short travel, they moved to the clinic and Shepard opens the door.

 

As they enter the room, they can see Garrus squatting near the end, a young woman being threatened by a guy with a gun.

As soon as the bad boys saw Shepard, one of them grabbed the doctor, using her as a shield. Garrus used the distraction to put a bullet in the head of the guy with the doctor. Between the three marines and the officer, they disposed quickly the rest of them.

 

They holstered their guns and moved near them. Garrus seems to be very excited “Perfect timing, Shepard. Gave me a clear shot at that bastard” Shepard stopped just in front of him “You risked too much. What were you thinking? You could’ve hit the hostage!”

Garrus seems to cool his emotions “There wasn’t time to think! I just reacted. I didn’t mean to…” he moved a hand to the doctor “Dr. Michel? Are you hurt?”

 

She takes the offered hand, her own visible shaking “No. I’m okay. Thanks to you. All of you”

Shepard cooked her head to the side “I know those men threatened you. But if you tell us who they work for, we can protect you”

 

The doctor closed her eyes for a moment, still holding strong to Garrus hand. After some deep breaths to calm herself, she opened her eyes and looks directly to Shepard “They work for Fist. They wanted to shut me up, keep from telling Garrus about the quarian”

 

That’s strange… how can be related a quarian, a gang leader and Saren? “What quarian?”

The doctor started to play with the hem of one sleeve “A few days ago, a quarian came by my office. She’d been shot, but she wouldn’t tell me who did it. I could tell she was scared, probably on the run” Michel starts pacing between Shepard and the window “She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information in exchange for a safe place to hide. . I put her in contact with Fist. He’s an agent for the Shadow Broker”

 

Garrus emitted some sub vocals to that “Not anymore. Now he works for Saren, and the Shadow Broker isn’t too happy about it”

 

The surprise is clear on the doctor’s voice “Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker? That’s stupid, even for him! Saren must have made him quite the offer”

 

Garrus voiced the feeling of the team “The quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get” Shepard nodded “She must have something that proves he’s a traitor. Did the quarian mention anything about Saren? Or the geth?”

 

The doctor answer excitedly “She did! The information she was going to trade. She said it had something to do with the geth”

 

Garrus vocals are changing like crazy “She must be able to link Saren to the geth. There’s no way the Council can ignore this!” Shepard smiled to him “Yes, finally some good news! Time we paid Fist a visit”

 

Garrus positioned himself in front of Shepard, a step of distance between them “I know this is your show, Shepard, but I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I’m coming with you!” 

 

She extended her hand and when he clasped it, she smiled to him “Welcome aboard Garrus”

When he let go of her hand, he stepped back “You know, we aren’t the only ones going after Fist. The Shadow Broker hired a krogan bounty hunter named Wrex to take him out”

Ashley was the one to talk first “Yeah, we heard about him, he’s at C-Sec right now”

Shepard opened her omnitool to watch the time “Our idea was to pay him a visit before the Clinic, we could use some brute force mixed with crazy biotics”

 

They says goodbye to the doctor, promising her to came back later. A skycar was called by Garrus, using his C-Sec codes, and the car arrived in seconds. The four of them entered the car, Shepard with Ashley on the back, Garrus and Kaidan on the front. The skycar moved at high speed, the codes from Garrus overriding the security protocols. In a couple of minutes, they are leaving the car just inside the C-Sec academy.

 

As soon as they approached the elevator, angry voices filled the air, one of them easily identifiable as a krogan. Shepard chuckled happily “Seems we make it in time to find him still here. Garrus, can you bring him to us?”

 

The officer nodded and walked directly to the C-Sec team surrounding the krogan. Before some minutes, the krogan approached them followed by Garrus, the other officers moving to a side giving them some privacy.

 

The mercenary was impressive at close range, big and full of scars “Do I know you, human?”

Shepard didn’t let him to intimidate her “My name’s Shepard. I’m going after Fist. Thought you might want to come along”

 

The name seems to click something on his memory “Shepard? Commander Shepard? I’ve heard a lot about you. We’re both warriors, Shepard. Out of respect, I’ll give you fair warning, I’m going to kill Fist” Shepard crossed her arms in a cookie pose, and Garrus take the chance to enter the conversation “Fist knows you’re coming. We’ll have a better chance if we all work together”

 

The mercenary seems to ponderate the situation for a moment “My people have a saying: Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you will find a friend” Shepard clasped hands with him “Glad to have you on the team, Wrex. Fist is all yours as soon as we have the information we need from him. But please, wait while we leave the scene… my training maybe will make me do a stupid move and try to stop you” The krogan laughed to her, a strange ‘Heh-heh-heh” leaving him “You can try it, hero of the Blitz, can try it”

 

Together they move again to the Rapid trans, using again the codes from Garrus to call the skycar as quick as possible. They decided to attack Chora’s den in full force, the five of them getting in the car, the three humans on the back. Kaidan was sandwiched between Shepard and Ashley, and the chief saw the change to push them a bit “LT I need some space, need to check my weapons, the thermal clip get stuck during the last combat”

 

Shepard moved as much as she can to the door while Kaidan press himself to her side. The inclination of the windows obliged her to move her face near him. With each inhalation, his aftershave overpowered her brain, the mix between the parfum, the eezo and his own scent was killing her. She closed her eyes, knowing that her pupils are dilated, and don’t want to betray herself. The sounds of Ashley disassembling the rifle filled the air. When the sounds stopped, she opened her eyes to find Kaidan’s closed as well, his fist tight closed over his thighs. 

 

Ashley loads a new thermal clip on the rifle “That’s better, thanks LT, you can move to your seat again” the humour in her voice was almost tangible. The krogan let go a strange laugh while Garrus only emitted a low vibration.

 

Finally the car stopped near the club and they moved directly to the corridor. Kaidan was the first to note the silence of the area “Looks like it’s shut down… better get the weapons ready

Garrus walked just behind the team with Wrex at his side “Yeah, Fist knows we’re coming”

 

As soon as the door to the club opened, a bloody inferno was on them, they can count at least eight thugs, including a Krogan, who are opening fire to them from every corner of the room. Luckily, their training and equipment was better and the combat ended without any problem. They approached the door that leads to Fist office, to find two more thugs armed and trying to stop them, but Shepard saw the fear in their eyes and talked to them, convincing them to leave. 

The door to Fist office opened and they can hear him talking “Why do I have to do everything myself? Time to die, little soldiers!” they hear the sound of defensive turrets activating “Ok… turrets, that’s cheating! Garrus, Alenko, use your tech skill to put the shields of the turrets down, Williams, Wrex and I will take care of them”

 

They positioned the team, Kaidan activating a barrier to pass to the other side of the room while Garrus stayed near the door. As soon as their attacks are ready, each one takes a turret, the attack draining the shields slowly, but some biotics from Wrex and Shepard emptied the energy, and then all the group opened fire to the towers, while Kaidan maintains Fist occupied with some biotics and shots from his pistol. As soon as the turrets were destroyed, Kaidan and Shepard launched a Lift attack to Fist, the combined power lifting him from the cover where he was hiding. The team moved to him, and Wrex grab his ankle and launch him flat over the floor, the air leaving his lungs in a painful gasp.

 

Fist seems to be very frightened of Wrex “Wait! Don’t kill me! I surrender!”

Shepard change her shotgun for the pistol “Tell me where the quarian is and I won’t have to shoot you in the kneecaps”

Fist tries to move, but Wrex pinned him to the floor with his feet “She’s not here, I don’t know where she is. That’s the truth!” Shepard lowered the pistol and opens fire, denting the armor of his knee but not trespassing it “Nobody lies to me, Fist. You’ve got three seconds to come clean. Then I start shooting, and my time on the Blitz taught me a lot of interesting and painful places to put a bullet”

 

Fist knew that she will do it, something he saw on her eyes and the determination on her voice “The quarian isn’t here. Said she’d only deal with the Shadow Broker himself. Nobody meets the SB, ever. But she didn’t know that. I told her I’d set a meeting up. But when she shows up, it’ll be Saren’s men waiting for her”

 

Shepard’s patience is growing thin with every passing second “Tell me where that meeting is before I blow your lying head off!” Fist sounds really scared “Here on the wards. The back alley by the markets. She’s supposed to meet them right now. You can make it if you hurry”

Shepard holstered her pistol and grab the shotgun again “Ok, Wrex, the stage is yours, please revise the office when you finish and bring to me whatever you find of interest, we have a quarian to save” the pleadings from Fist didn’t stop her to leave the office…

 

Kaidan didn’t hide that the situation is not working for him, but knew better that vocalize it at the moment, they have more important things at hand. As soon as they left the office, a new wave of thugs attacked them, but they are no match for the team and they only spend a couple of minutes to move to the corridor. They moved at double time to the alley, the entrance near the Rapid trans terminal of the club.

 

In the middle section of the alley, they can see a quarian talking with a turian and some salarians. The conversation seems to be awful, and a moment later, the quarian launch an attack and takes cover. The team didn’t lose any time and attacked Saren’s mens with all they have. Shepard can feel Kaidan’s biotics on her spine, the power on him was incredible, and their combined attacks distracted the engineers enough time to avoid them to call some drones or turrets. The combat ended with the turian falling, a sniper shot from Garrus in his head.

 

They moved near the quarian. As soon as she saw them holstering their weapons, she relaxed a bit “Fist set me up, I knew I couldn’t trust him!” Wrex arrived just in that moment “Don’t worry about Fist,  He got what was coming to him”

 

The quarian moved a hand to her chest “Then I guess there are two things I need to thank you for. Who are you?”

“My name’s Shepard. I’m looking for evidence to prove Saren’s a traitor”

The little quarian nodded “Then I have a chance to repay you for saving my life. But not here, We need to go somewhere safe”

 

The analytic brain of Kaidan made another big movement “The ambassador’s office. It’s safe there. He’ll want to see this anyway, and the Captain is with him”

They moved to the nearest Rapid trans, Garrus and Wrex staying behind, with plans to meet with them in the Flux in a couple of hours.


	8. Spectre Shepard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story about how Shepard was designated the first human spectre, and the how the team celebrates the first victory over Saren... and how her relation with Kaidan enters a new stage!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok... I started to change the story... sorry about that! Some Fluff and Angst between the cute FShenko pair! I can't make them wait until Ilos to talk about their feelings, they are soooo cute together *_* 
> 
> The chapter is soooo long! sorry! but I catched a cold, and together with my asthma problems, I'm chained to the couch, lots of free time to think, so I've written all day long :P  
> If I made more mistakes than usual, you can blame the fever... if the chapter is hotter than usual, blame the fever too hehehehe

The skycar stopped just outside the embassies area. Shepard put a hand on the quarian shoulder, she can see the younger woman nervously playing with her hands “Are you ready for this? We can take a walk to calm down if you need it” she was startled by the touch, but reacted quickly “Don’t worry commander, I will not fail you, I’m ready to deliver the information and help you with Saren”. Shepard nodded to her and opened the door, leaving the car “Then let’s go, the sooner we finish, the better… the plan to spend the night at the Flux sounds like a good reward for all the hard work we did the last days”.

 

They moved to the human embassy, and the secretary let them enter directly. Udina and Anderson are near the desk, reading something on the display. Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan give them a military salute, while the quarian hides herself behind Kaidan. 

The commander was the first to talk “Good morning sirs” Udina, with his usual sympathy, raised a hand, a disgusted frown on his face “You’re not making my life easy, Shepard. Firefights in the wards? An all-out assault on Chora’s Den? Do you know how many--” Kaidan can see how Shepard’s hands closed in a tight fist behind her back “I’m very sorry Ambassador, next time a group of assassin tries to kill me and my team, I will let them do it only to avoid you the extra work” Anderson can’t hide the smile showing in his face, but had to act like the Captain he is “Enough Commander, we know you were doing your job, but he is doing it too” She straightened her pose and nodded.

 

Just then Udina saw finally the quarian hidden behind Kaidan “Who’s this? A quarian? What are you up to, Shepard?” She smiled, moving a hand to the quarian to step besides her “Making your day, Ambassador. She has information linking Saren to the geth”

The suspicious grown on Udina’s face only grow deeper with the news “Really? Maybe you better start at the beginning, Miss…?” The quarian didn’t seems to be affected by his disdain and hard works “My name is Tali. Tali’Zorah nar Rayya. I left the Flotilla to make my Pilgrimage, my rite of passage into adulthood. During my travels I began hearing reports of geth. Since they drove my people into exile, the geth never ventured beyond the Veil. I was curious. I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world. I waited for one to separate from its unit. Then I disabled it and removed its memory core” Kaidan whispered a ‘wow’, while Anderson sounded more dubious “I though the geth fried their memory cores when they died. Some kind of defense mechanism” a little sigh left her “My people created the geth. If you are quick, careful, and lucky, small caches of data can sometimes be saved. Most of the core was wiped clean. But I managed to salvage something from its audio banks” she opened her omnitool, and Saren’s voice filled the room, clearly like he was there “Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit”

Shepard was smiling happily “Finally!” and Anderson returned the smile “That’s Saren’s voice. This proves he was involved in the attack!” Tali moved a hand to catch their attention again “Wait… there’s more. Saren wasn’t working alone” She replayed again the message, but after Saren’s voice, they can hear a female talking “And one step closer to the return of the Reapers”

Udina’s pose relaxed a bit after hearing the message “I don’t recognize that other voice. The one talking about Reapers… We need to present this to the Council right away. I need your team and Miss Tali there ASAP”. They saluted the Ambassador and the Captain while they left the room. 

 

Kaidan punched Shepard’s shoulder “That was better than expected, we finally have him!” She have a big smile in her face “Yeah! And all thanks to you Tali!” The little quarian was playing with her omnitool “I’m more than happy to help you Commander, and I want to do anything I can to bring Saren and his geth down. You saw me in the alley, know what I’m capable of. Let me come with you” Shepard extended a hand to Tali “I’ll take all the help I can get. Welcome to the team, Kaidan’s need someone to talk about techs, we are already bored of his speech”  They laughed together, Kaidan poke her side making her jump “Yeah yeah, laugh yourself over the poor Sentinel… next time your omnitool get hooked I’ll send you to Adams”

 

They feel light hearted, the weight over their shoulders lighter. They left the embassy, talking about Tali’s pilgrimage and her adventures until she ended at the Citadel. Instead of taking a cab, the team walked to the Council Tower, giving Udina enough time to call the counselors and prepare the meeting. Tali gets some curious glances from the people walking on the Presidium, and Shepard stopped occasionally to have a stare duel with however looks to her badly. Tali put a hand on her arm “Don’t worry Commander… people always looks to my people like we were…” she let her go and moved the same hand to her helmet, trying to find the words “Vagabonds… we are second class everywhere, but here at the Presidium? I don’t think a quarian has been here since we lost our embassy. But don’t worry, luckily for us, we are a proud race, I can deal with their disdain” Shepard put her arm around her shoulders “Maybe you can do it, but I can’t, you are part of my team, key piece on bringing down a rogue Spectre, a good fighter and a better engineer, you earned a bit of respect” The filters of her helmet can’t hide the little soob “Thanks Commander”

 

When they entered the tower, they can’t hear a word or sound other than the murmur of the Council “I think they started without us” they walked doble time to the Council atrium, Anderson waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs “Just in time Shepard, we are ready to show them the proofs” They clasped hands and start moving up the stairs “And we are more than ready to give them the surprise of their lives”

 

When the team gathered behind Udina, the voice of Tali’s recording was sounding clearly over the speakers of the atrium. The ambassador sounded cooky, but with reason “You wanted proof. There it is!” The Turian Councilor looked to the other members before speaking “This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador. Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes” The Asari Councilor closed her eyes for a moment and look directly to Shepard “I recognize the other voice, the one speaking with Saren. Matriarch Benezia” The commander positioned her hands behind her back “And who’s she?” The Asari Councilor takes a deep breath “Matriarchs are powerful asari who have entered the final stage of their lives. Revered for their wisdom and experience, they serve as guides and mentors to my people. Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic, and she had many followers. She will make a formidable ally for Saren”

The conversation moved then to the Reapers topic, Tali explaining that the geths believed they are an ancient race of machines who destroyed the Protean Empire and then disappeared, but as always, the Council only listen what they want to hear, and dismissed the Reapers threat as soon as they showed it, argumenting that was an invention created by Saren to enslave the geths.

 

The Turian Councilor changed the subject again, returning to the beginning “Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life. He no longer has the rights or the resources of a Spectre. The Council has stripped him of his position” Udina pointed a finger angrily to them “That is not good enough! You know he’s hiding somewhere in the Traverse. Send your fleet in!”

The Salarian Councilor answer him “A fleet cannot track down one man” Udina still fights with them “A Citadel fleet could secure the entire region. Keep the geth from attacking any more of our colonies” The Turian Councilor gives them the same response as always, humanity chose to colonize worlds in the Terminus system, and they won’t risk a war to save them. Kaidan whispered behind Shepard “And there we go again…”

 

She takes a step to the Council “I can take Saren down. A single ship didn’t trigger a war and we can track him” The three councilors leave the podium to talk between them, the quick movements of the turian enough sign of the severity of the conversation. When they ended talking, they moved again to their respective terminals, tapping some commands on them. The silence on the atrium was overwhelming, people on the balconies and around the garden moving closer, sensing the importance of the moment. Finally the Asari Councilor breaks the silence “Commander Shepard, step forward” Kaidan can see her hands trembling a bit while taking the step “It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel” The councilors turned themselves to talk, the discourse well known to them:

 

“Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle: those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file”

 

“Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instrument of our will”

 

“Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. They safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold”

 

“You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment to you and your entire species”

 

Shepard bowed to them “I’m honored, Councilors”

 

The Salarian Councilor tipped some keys on her terminal “We’re sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He’s a fugitive from justice and you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him”

 

When the Councilors call the end of the meeting and left the atrium, Shepard feels herself wrapped in a double hug from Kaidan and Ashley “First human Spectre Skipper! I can’t believe a lived to see that, and in person!” When they let her go, Anderson extended a hand, giving her a half hug when she returned the clasp, whispering on her ear “I’m proud of you, Kayla”

 

Udina didn’t congratulate her, going directly to business “The Captain and I had a lot of work to do… you need a ship, a crew, supplies…” Anderson raised a hand “Yeah, we will work on that, but meanwhile, you have shore leave until tomorrow morning, you earned it, and this will give us time to make the arrangements”

 

Shepard smiled to her Captain “Thanks, I will let the crew knew, see you in the morning”

They left the atrium as quickly as they can, picking a skycar to the C-Sec academy, before taking the elevator to the Normandy “Tali, I don’t know which kind of vessel they will give us for the mission, but for now, you will visit the more advanced ship of the Alliance, don’t break anything” Tali laughed happily “Don’t worry Commander, I’m not planning of it, but normally people ask me not to steal anything” Shepard moved her head sadly “The galaxy is full of stupid people… well, we will left our armours in the ship and change to our civvies, before leaving to the Flux! I’m planning to enjoy the night to the fullest!”

 

When they stepped out the elevator, Tali frozen in place “Wow, you weren’t kidding! She’s a beauty!” Kaidan nodded to her “Wait until you see the Drive core, is massive!” 

They moved to the airlock, the VI announcing their presence to the crew. When the door opened, they can see all hands positioned on the deck, even Joker was at the bridge door, all of them in parade rest. When the door closed, Pressly voice reverberated on the room “Present, ARMS!”

 

Shepard mouth opened in surprise, and then her face turn bright red when the situation gets into her brain “At ease, crew… Pressly, explain yourself before I die of shame”

 

The navigator moved to her, his hat on his hands “Commander, we only want to show you how proud of you we are, even knowing that maybe we are not you crew anymore, we are proud to say that we served under the great Commander Shepard, hero of the Blitz and first human Spectre, and I’m sure that soon than later we can add the ‘the one who stopped Saren and their geths’ to the list of titles” she was smiling to him, blushing like a teenager, but happy to hear the crew talk this way about her “Well, thanks for the thought… and to make it better, I have good news from the Captain, we have shore leave until tomorrow morning! Schedule some shifts to allow every member of the crew at least some hours of free time. Normandy crew, DISMISSED! And please, have some fun on my name tonight!” The entire crew was cheering happily, moving to their posts while planning how to spend the leave. She walked to the bridge, Kaidan and Ashley waiting with Tali near the airlock “I want to talk with Joker before we leave, I believe he will need some persuasion to take him of the ship. Kaidan, can you take Tali to Adams? I’m sure he will show her the ship happily while we change our clothes and refresh a bit” He nodded with a wink “Aye aye ma’am, come on Tali, time to show you the heart of the ship” Ashley left with them, and Shepard entered the cockpit and sat on the copilot seat unceremoniously.

 

Joker turned his chair to her “Well well… how I have to call you now? Spectre? Sounds awful”

She flipped a finger to him “Very funny Joker… I’m still your commanding officer, show me a bit of respect, oh, wait, it’s about you who are we talking about, you don’t know what line of command is… or respect”

 

He winked to her “And you love it that way Commander. Shore leave, uhm? Do you have any plans?” She gets up of the chair and moved to him “Of course I am, and the plans include you, Alenko, Williams, and my new friends, the Flux and a lot of booze, so move your ass from this chair and change your clothes to civvies, we are leaving in an hour”

To her surprise, he stands up, picking up his crutches “Aye aye ma’am, but before we leave to a new adventure, let me thank you for bringing back the memories of Serenity and Firefly, I know you chose that quote because of the awesome pilot they have. Loved it when I was a teenager”

She smiled fondly to him “You are welcome, now is your turn, surprise me!”

 

They left the bridge together, she adjusting her pace to him, and moved to the crew deck. She left him there, moving to the cargo bay to store her armor and extra weapons on the locker. When the doors opened, she can see Ashley on her underarmour, helping Kaidan with his backplates, and something totally new to her sprout on her inside, she wants to hit her and keep her hands away from his body, a feeling of possessiveness like nothing she feeled before  _ “I can’t believe… I’m jealous! I’m worse than a teenager… breath Kayla, in and out, in and out…” _ she moved to them while trying to relax a bit “Hey, Joker will join us! And in his own will, we will left the ship in an hour, so we have time to clean the armor and weapons before cleaning ourselves”

 

Ashley moved away from Kaidan after freeing his back armor “I will take care of the weapons Skipper, and Thomas and Watkins will help to clean the armors, so you and Alenko can go upside and take a bite, you will need the energy, I’m planning to dance until the morning!”

Shepard give Ash her weapons, and moved to her locker “Thanks Ashley, that will be great, I’m tired of the energy bars I eated all day”

 

Kaidan undone the last piece of his armor, leaving him in the tight pants he uses for underarmor, his broad chest naked and shiny with sweat “Aaaahh, that's better, wearing a full armor in a controlled environment like the Citadel is a pain”

Shepard moved her gaze to her empty locker and start unclasping her own armor “Yeah, the heat is awful, I’m still waiting for a good set of armor with real temperature control, even my N7 set didn’t control it very well” 

They remained silent for awhile, the only sound the openings of the sealings of Shepard’s armor and the metal vs metal when they left the pieces on the locker. 

 

She can feel him before he touched her shoulder “Let me help with that” He started moving his hand over her seals, opening one by one, while the other hand was pressed against her back, holding the piece in place. Shepard hands where on the locker shelf, and when she looked to Ash, she saw her seated on the table, a shotgun on her hands and a knowing smile on her face. She winked to her, moving a hand over her lips in a sealing symbol, before returning her full attention to the weapon _ “Great… I’m falling for him and making a spectacle of it, marvelous” _

 

She was so distracted that when Kaidan finally opens the sealing of the backplate, she was not holding the front one, and before the piece fall to the ground, his hand moved to press the piece to her chest, but the movement bring them together, her unarmored back against his bare chest, but before she have the time to fully understand the feeling, he withdraw to her side, still holding his hand over her piece “Sorry Shepard, I believed that you will catch your front piece”

She was very grateful from the bad light on the cargo bay, because her face is flushed and her eyes tightly closed “No problem, Alenko, my fault, I wasn’t thinking on it, thanks” She takes off the front piece and stored it in the locker, and Kaidan place the backplate near the other one. She didn’t look to Ashley, feigning that she was checking all the pieces “Williams, can you bring my shotgun and pistol with you when you go to the quarters? I’m not bringing my armour, but giving how we are treated at Chora’s Den, I will not walk unarmed on the Citadel”

 

Ashley moved to her with the shotgun on hand “Take that, is cleaned and ready, I will clean our pistols and bring them with me when I go to the showers, see you in a while”

She still feels her face flushed, but having him so close almost naked was killing her “I’ll go for the shower first, if you don’t mind, I can still smell the blood of Fist’s thugs on me” The doors to the crew deck opened and they left the elevator “Good idea… I’m not dressed to cook anyway”

 

Luckily for her, he entered first on the crew quarters, allowing her to hide the new layer of blush painting her face, the images of him cooking almost naked painted by her own imagination burned on her mind. 

 

She opened her bag, and start searching for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt “Shit… all my clothes are military or with the Alliance or N7 logo on it… I can’t pass unnoticed with that” She feel something hit her, and when she picks it up, found a blue hoodie, unbranded. Kaidan looks to her over his shoulder “You can use that, it will look oversized on you, but you can use it to hide yourself for a while” She likes the idea, and searched for a white tank top on the bag “Thanks Kaidan! Now the shower is calling me. I’m planning to take a loooong one, because we are grounded and have access to unlimited water, feel free to... copy my idea” she looks again to her bag, chastising herself _ “Shit, I’ll almost said him to join me, take a hold of yourself Kayla!” _ . 

 

Taking the pants, tank and underwear, and the toiletry bag, she moves to the showers without looking at him. 

Once inside, she moved quickly to one of the showers, leaving the clothes in the bench outside. She takes off her underarmor inside the cubicle, kicking it outside the shower, followed by her panties and bra. She starts the water, but remained out of the falling cascade until it gets warmer. Her body was screaming for some relax, and she pushed the hot water as much as she can tolerate, feeling the muscles on her back and neck relaxing a bit with the heat. She was so distracted by the moment that when she hears the hiss of the door, she almost hits her head to the wall. The sound of steps approaching her shower put a knot in her throat, and when Ashley face showed over the side, smiling, she almost hit her “Nervous Skipper? He’s still on the quarters searching for something to wear” Shepard launch her a handful of water “Shut up, Ash!”

 

She hear her turning on the shower next to hers “That night will be fun!”

Shepard turn off her own and moved to Ash “Please Ash, as a personal favor, don’t tease us with this… is hard enough for me to be so close to him knowing nothing will happen, to have you reminding me of what I’m missing” the sandness on her voice makes Ashley move to her, her hands grasping her shoulders “Ok, I’ll be good and don’t tease you, at least when I’m not so drunk to lost my control, but, please, why you say that nothing will happen? The looks you two made to one another… the feeling is there, and if you don’t remember it, you are now an Spectre, and maybe tomorrow you will have a whole new crew, without us in it, so please” to emphasize her speech, she takes her face in her hands and makes Shepard look into her eyes “please, do what your heart is screaming at you to do, enjoy yourself for a bit, you deserve it” a single tear left Kayla eyes “Thanks Ash, I’ll think of it” When Ash let go of her face, Shepard makes a quick move and enters completely in her shower, giving her a quick hug. When she is leaving the shower, the door to the bathrooms opens, and she quickly hide herself on her shower. 

 

She turn on the water again, and starts cleaning her body with her favorite soap, a vanilla scent. The shampoo helped to undo the knots that the battle made in her hair, and for the first time in months, she applied some conditioner to her hair. She hear Ashley happily talking about when was the last time she can enjoy a long shower, and Kaidan answering her, their chitchat helping her to relax a bit more. When she washes off the conditioner, she turns off the water, and put some oil on her skin, taking the towel from the outside and drying off herself thoroughly. When she’s happy with the drying, she puts a towel on her hair, and cover her body with the one she used. Leaving the shower, she can see the other two are still using the extra water, and moved quickly to her clothes, putting on her underwear as quick as possible. She was fighting with the tank top, when she hear a low sigh behind her, and when she looks over her shoulder, saw Kaidan leaving the shower, the only thing covering his body a little tower over his hips. She returns her attention to her pants “I’m almost ready, give me a minute” She was struggling with her pants when Ashley lefts her shower “Nice show Skipper…” and when she saw Kaidan leaning on shower door, she can’t hide the little blush showing on her face “ok… that show is better”

 

The comment made Kaidan blush too “Ha ha ha, Ash… I’ll dress myself on a clean shower, that will give you some intimacy to change yourself”

Ashley laughed to him “Don’t worry about me, I didn’t bring my clothes with me, I’ll walk to the quarters, I lost my capacity to feel ashamed years ago” She approached Shepard and whispered to her “Remember my advice, have some fun when you can, and… oh my god, he’s hot in armour, but naked! Wow, only wow!” Kayla punched her ribs “You’re incorrigible Ash”

 

With a wink to them, she launch a kiss from the door and left them alone, Shepard finally closing her pants, and moving to put the dirty clothes in the laundry box. With the toiletry bag on hand, she moved to the front, passing Kaidan on her way to the handwashing area, avoiding to look to him. She chose the one on the inside, where she can’t see his reflection, and start searching for her makeup on the bag. She founds the creams and lipstick, and found the magic eye make up her roommate on the academy gave her as a farewell present  _ “At least I didn’t have to fight with my eyeliner while knowing his naked in the same room as me” _

She applied the cream to her face and neck, the special protein funding the color perfectly with her own. Taking in hand the magic tool, she started browsing the different styles available, and chose a dark green eyeshadow with big eyelashes and a light eyeliner. The magic tool looks like a pair of sky goggles, and when she positioned it over her face, a VI voice starts talking, giving her the indications to follow “Standby… makeup in progress… open your eyes… looks up… eyes closed… makeup done, have a good day” when she takes of the magic tool, Kaidan was at her side, arms crossed and a smile on his face “That’s cheating Shepard”

She stuck her tongue to him “No, is not, we live in the 22th century, I can use any technological help I can, besides, it was a present, I didn’t buy it”

He raised his hands in surrender “I’m just kidding Shepard” he saw that she still have the towel over her hair “You need help with your hair?”

She was frozen with her hand in midair, the lipstick ready to be applied “I put some conditioner, I hope I don’t have knots on it” he nodded and moved to another mirror, brushing his air, giving a final touch with his fingers, before storing again the hair comb.

 

When she ended with the makeup, she put again all the items on the bag, except the lipstick, and picks up the comb, taking off the towel, her red hair shining a bit more than usual. She found some knots and start fighting with them, but a hand stopped her “And this is how you will end bald at a young age, thanks to your impatience. Let me do it”

 

A shiver moved from her back when his hand start picking up locks of her hair and combing them carefully. When he ended, he passed the comb over her shoulder, looking to her reflection on the mirror “Done, I’ll be on the mess making something to eat for the three of us”

 

When she was alone on the bathroom, she takes out a long sigh, her hands clasping the handwasher, the comb completely forgotten over the shelf  _ “I will be living in a new kind of hell circle tonight” _ .

After some minutes, she picks up the comb again, combing her hair in her usual style, side bang and the rest of her hair down, giving the final touch with her hands. 

 

She takes her bag, put the lipstick on her jeans pocket and moved to the quarters. She saw the box on her bed, and opening it, takes out the rings of her parents, passing the chain over her head and letting it fall over her breast. She puts her boots on and moved to the mess to eat whatever Kaidan was preparing.

 

She founds Ashley sitting in the aisle, watching him cook, a beer on her hand, and another on her side waiting for her “Hey Shepard, looking good! White colour suits you” She seats beside hers and take a long sip of the beer “Same to you Ash, you look younger with your hair down, I like it” just then, Kaidan put a plate in front of each of them, a surprise look on their faces “Bacon? Where did you find real bacon in the Citadel?!” Shepard is still looking amazed to her plate, eggs with bacon and mashed potatoes “I can’t believe it, all is real?”

 

He smiled and put another plate beside Shepard, sitting in the stool “Everything is real, I can’t bouch about the origin of the eggs, but the bacon is a canadian speciality called Peameal Bacon, the guys on Earth’s Spirit sell it, and I ordered a piece to be delivered to the Normandy, together with some real potatoes and eggs”

 

Ashley stand up and moved between their stools “A toast for Kaidan, thanks for the present!” they moved their bottles together and drink a long sip, Kaidan put his one on the table “Better to eat it while is hot, besides, we have only twenty five minutes to end it, or Joker will shut himself on the bridge again” 

 

They eat almost in silence, a gluttony moan leaving them from time to time, and when they ended their plates, Ashley assigned herself to clean the kitchen while they go for the guns and jackets.

 

Shepard was near her bed when she hears Kaidan calls her “Shepard, can I ask you something?” She takes her gun holster belt and start closing it over her hips “Yeah, sure”

He takes a deep breath, and moved a little closer to her “When I searched your bag for your uniform while you were on the medbay, a box fall from it and opened, and I saw the pair of rings you have on your neck and some little rings too… Family mementos?” She turns her back to him, wanting to hide the emotions she knew are showing on her face “Yes… the ones on the chain are my parents wedding rings, and the little ones are from my twin brother Kay, and my sisters Maya and Alyssa. After the Mindoir attack, the Alliance sends to me the few possessions they found to me while I’m still at the medbay in an Alliance ship. The batarians burned part of my house and fields, and only some items on the farm and on the bodies remained, I suppose that the poor bastards that killed them were busy dodging my bullets to ransack the bodies”

 

She felts him approaching her, and hugging her from behind “Sorry for making you relive the memory, sometimes my curiosity takes the best of me” she moved a hand over his “No, don’t worry, I consider you as a friend, and as one, you have the right to make me talk about my past, I never do it, but is good to let it flow once in awhile. The sadness will pass, always do”

 

They stay like that for some moments, before he talks again, without letting her go “So… you are a teenager in a remote colony, and you shot and killed the batarians? With what weapon and where did you learn to do it? Just curious about it, you don’t have to answer, but I can’t believe you are kicking asses since you are so young”

 

She let her head fall over his shoulder “My father was a retired alliance marine, he served during the First Contact War, and he taught my brother and me to shot from a younger age. We have some weapons at home, from his marine days: an old Edge pistol, a Hurricane shotgun and a Lancer rifle. I was at the fields with my mother and Kay when my father came to us yelling to us, my little sisters running behind him, the weapons on his hands. He put the shotgun in my hands and gave the pistol to Kay, telling us to protect my mother and sisters, because the batarians are raiding the colony. My mother takes my sisters to the barn, and Kay and I, positioned ourselves at the door. Unfortunately for us, I have a clear view of my father’s hiding spot, and saw a pair of pirates moving to him from behind. Ignoring my brother’s pleas, I runned as quick as I can in my dress and sandals, and put a bullet in the face of one of them, my body crushing the other one, knees on his stomach, and shooting him at short range when we fall to the ground. But my good luck ended in that moment, when a new group of batarians appeared from the other side of the barn. My brother shot them from the door, but can’t kill all of them… only maintain them at distance of the door, and then they set the barn on fire…” she was trembling, the memories hard to relive, but once started, she needs to tell the full story, it has been years since she had the necessity to do it “I taked the sniper rifle one of the batarians was wearing and started to shoot, but my aim was not as good as in close range, and only served to enrage them more. My father was firing his rifle to them, and they take cover behind our car, and when my family left the burning building, they opened fire over them. I didn’t see it first hand, because luckily I was using the scope on the sniper rifle, and only saw them firing, but then I hear the anguished scream of my father, and pained moans and cries from my mother, and knew what happened. I closed my eyes for a moment, and my pain centered my aim, I killed four of them before a shadow passed before my visor… my father was running to the bodies on the ground. I remember the moment like it happened in slow motion, a batarian appeared from behind the car, shooting to him before he can get close to my mom. I killed the bastard with a clean shoot. I--” He can feel her taking quick breaths, and hugged her harder “I enjoyed killing them, Kaidan, they killed my family, destroyed my life completely, and I didn’t regret taking their lifes, not then, not now… I take all the weapons I can with me and climbed a tree, as high as I can with my dress, and killed every batarian who came close to my family. When an Alliance shuttle landed on the fields, I descended the tree and grasping the sniper rifle, moved toward the bodies, but the image I found finally destroyed my force of will, and I fall to the ground, crying and screaming to the universe. Anderson was the soldier that found me there, who tried to calm a panicked teenager with a big gun” she smiled a bit at the memory of the long talks she had with him over the days she stayed on his ship “The brass insisted to maintain in secret my acts, to avoid the batarians to put a bull’s-eye on my back, but are more than impressed that I killed more than fifteen pirates without training, so when I asked to join the Alliance, they happily accepted”

She can feel his smile on her temple “Understandable. Thanks for sharing it with me, Shepard, I know is hard to talk about the past… someday I will tell you mine”

He let her go and she turns to him, extending her hand, and when he clasped it, she gives him a sad smile “Deal, Kaidan, and please, when we are talking personal stuff, call me Kayla, please?” He gives her a big smile and nodded “Ok, thanks again, Kayla, now it will be better if we go outside before Ashley raids our quarters looking for us” She let his hand go and starts to fix the weapons to her belt, laughing at the comment.

Finally they were ready, and when she puts the hoodie he lend her, she can smell his aftershave on it _ “Great… now I will smell him even when he’s not even near” _

 

Ashley was waiting for them on the elevator, a black jacket over a shoulder “Have you failed to find your own closet Skipper?” Shepard rolled her eyes at the comment while passing her to the stairs “This night maybe I can’t find my bed, but for now, it was a problem of iconography, all my clothes had the Alliance or N7 logo, and I want to pass unnoticed for a while” they entered the CIC and moved to the bridge, the skeleton crew giving them quick noods “Good thinking Shepard, but next time, you can ask me if I have some spare clothes for you, this look like you stole it from you big brother or boyfriend” When she looks to Ash over her shoulder, she founds mischievous smile on her face “but you look cute, and you don’t be recognized easily that way”

 

Joker was waiting for them on his chair, a black cap on his head, jeans and a black and stretchy shirt. Ashley winked to him “Looking good Joker” he moved to them in his crutches “Yeah, the crutches kills the mood, but I need to walk to the bar before starting breaking hearts” she positioned herself besides him “Let’s get moving, while Tali arrives. We’ll await for you on the elevator”

 

Shepard calls Tali with her omnitool, the quarian talking quickly “Sorry! I didn’t notice the time! I’m on my way!” they hear her saying goodbye to Adams before the channel close. Kaidan smiled and leans on the bridge door “I knew she will fall in love with the core, and Adams seems more than happy to talk to her about it”

She opened her omni again and sends a message to Wrex and Garrus, they will be at the Flux in fifteen minutes, and she wants them there to celebrate the little victory. 

 

Tali arrived in a couple of minutes, almost running through the CIC “Sorry! Are we late because of me?” Shepard moved to the airlock and initiated the decompression protocol “No, Ashley and Joker are waiting for us at the elevator, and Wrex and Garrus will go directly to the club”

 

The elevator is waiting for them when they left the ship, the five of them taking it to the C-Sec academy, where they catch a Skycar to the Flux, the three girls sitting on the back. Shepard opens her omnitool and start searching over the files “The drinks are on me, and the food too” she moved a hand to them to stop the wailing and protests “I’ll only show you this to stop feeling guilt about spending my credits” she activated the holo projection of her omnitool, and they can see a very high number on the screen “that’s my credit account, part in compensation for Midnoir and part as a reward from the Blitz, including presents for the families I saved there, so… enjoy the night, and don’t worry about the cost. I’m more than happy to pay for it, I don’t need the money, didn’t want it…”

Four open mouthed faces looked back to her, but finally Ash reacted “Hell yeah Shepard!! I will toast for you all night long!” The rest of the team agree with Ashley, not wanting to give her any more reason to feel uncomfortable.

 

When they arrived to the Flux, Shepard move ahead of them, asking the barman if they had a discrete area to rent for the night. Being the high class club of the Wards, they had a serie of private rooms, overpriced obviously, but she didn’t care. She rented the biggest one, and pass the barman her credit chip code to charge every drink, food and extra service the team asked for. When the barman saw the name showing on the screen, he smiled happily to her and talked in a low voice “It’s an honor to have the celebration of the first human spectre on our establishment, we’ll take care of all your needs, whatever they are” She nodded to him “My main request is to remain unnoticed, and nobody outside my team and your staff will enter the room without our consent” He started sending messages to the others waiters and security personnel “Of course Commander, I’ll mark the room as VIP, without showing your name on the reservation, a security officer will be assigned to your door and a pair a waitresses will be attending you all night. Thanks for choosing the Flux”

A cute asari, with grey eyes and a white dress moved near here “I’m Shana, I will be one of your waitresses tonight, please, follow me to your lounge” 

Shepard see the rest of the team at the door looking for her and moved a hand over her head to catch their attention. When she moved to the room, Kaidan guided the rest of the team behind her.

 

The room she has rented is big enough to hold a party with almost thrice their numbers, with a bar on the back, another asari behind it, a big table with chairs on one side, a little dance floor on the corner, and groups of couches filling the rest of the room.

When the team entered the room, Ashley was clapping like a teenager “Cool!! We can get drunk without making a show in public! Love it!!!” and she walked directly to the bar, ordering a full bottle of whisky and a beer for everyone “Wait a moment, Tali! You are dextro, right? What do you want? They have a big catalog of booze you can drink!” the quarian walks to the bar and starts passing page after page of dextro alcohol “Wow, there is a lot to chose! Do you have anything already filtered for quarians?” the asari smiled to her and moved the catalog to a full page of filtered drinks “We have more than forty types of alcohol filtered and served in enviro suits-friendly recipients” Tali moved her hand over the catalog “Keelah… I didn’t drink anything filtered since I left the Flotilla… I’ll start with Brandy!”

 

The asari smiled and started to prepare the tray with their drinks while the team sat on one of the bigger couches. When the waitress put the tray on the center table, the security guard knocked the door “Ma’am, a krogan and a turian are asking about the room” Kaidan moved to the door to confirm the identities of the newcomers, and the officer lets them enter the room.

Garrus looks around the room, his harmonics vibrating “You know how to make a good party Shepard!” they sat on the couch, the rest of them squeezing to fit when Wrex sat at the end. The waitress waited near and take note of their drinks, bringing them to the table.

 

When all of them have a drink in hand, Shepard stands up, raising her glass “For the team, thanks for your help exposing Saren” they toast with her and take a long sip of their drinks. When she sat again, Joker stands up, Ashley watching him closely in case he needs help “And one more for the great Commander Shepard, the first human spectre and the better specimen of our race” she blushed at the comment but raised her beer to toast with the team. 

 

They drink for a while, Garrus and Wrex telling stories about their past, the ryncol making Wrex sound more funny and relaxed. Shepard ordered some food for everyone, surprised to see steak sandwich on the menu, and remembering a conversation she had with Kaidan, she ordered a pair of sandwich for them, more beer and more whisky.

 

Garrus and Tali moved to another table with their food, not wanting to eat something that will kill them by error, Wrex moving with them, his food so recognizable that no one will try to eat it.

When Ashley saw the food trays, she saw the two sandwiches and understand immediately the situation “Come on Joker, walk with me to the dance floor, you can enjoy the show while eating” he looks to her with a suspicious frown, but the alcohol in him make him nod and stand up, moving to the couch near the dance floor while Ashley moved the tray with their food and drinks.

 

Kaidan saw then the sandwiches and smiled to Shepard “You remembered! Thanks, Kayla” he was grateful that the room has low lights that hide the blush on his face, and he moved near her, positioning the tray before them, and picking his sandwich “Of course I remember… I remember everyone of our chats” She concentrate herself on the sandwich, the whisky playing with her self-control. They eat in silence for a while, simply enjoying the luxury of eating a real sandwich, the hard life on a ship showing in the pleasure this simple act gives them. He puts down it and picks up the whisky, moving the one for Shepard near her hand. When she takes the hint and change the sandwich for the glass, he move the glass to toast “For our nightly talks, there is no better way to know a person” she touched his glass and drowned it full with a single gulp “Yeah, I never feel better to have insomnia, and I love your chocolate drinks” she filled the glasses again and make a toast of her own “For your kind heart, you are one of the nicest persons I ever met” he looks to her arching a brow “I definitely not toast to that… I’ll toast for the day you stepped on the Normandy and I found you in the kitchen looking for the tea box, better day of my military career” The pair of them are blushing while clicking their glasses together and drowning them.

 

They eat the rest of the sandwich in silence, sharing some smiles over the meal, sipping from their beers. At the end, Kaidan stands up and move a hand to her “Wanna play some quasar with me?” she can feel the alcohol taking her price, feeling a little lightheaded, but takes his hand to stand up and together, they left the room to the quasar area. Before leaving, Shepard saw Ashley dancing like crazy on the dance floor with Tali, but when she saw them leaving, she makes a quick thumbs up to her without stopping the movement.

 

Shepard moves turned her head quickly, and the floor started moving a bit and she had to lean on Kaidan to steady herself “Sorry, it seems I drink more than I think” he puts an arm behind her back to help her “No problem here, If you want, we can take a walk on the promenade, maybe some fresh air will help your head a bit” she knew is a very bad idea to left the bar with him, but the idea was so appealing right now that she can only nod her agreement. They stopped near the security officer to inform him that they will go outside for a walk, Kaidan giving him his number to contact him if something happens. 

 

They left the club, avoiding the other partners and the dancers, and when they are on the stairs, Kaidan takes a better grip on her back to help her. As soon as they stopped at the bottom, he let her go, watching her closely in case she stumbled. They moved to the balcony, and Shepard leaned over the railing, her eyes fixed in the landscape. He positioned himself at her side, but leaned on the rail with his hip. She looks to him and find him with a lost gaze and the arms crossed, the pose so relaxed she feel envious “I always loved the views on the Citadel, is soothing to think about a place where all the race can live in harmony, and when they changed to night cycle, is simply breathtaking” He nodded, looking to her and smiling “Yes, is so relaxing when you can enjoy it in silence… and with what you have over your head, you need to relax as much as you can” she looks to her hands for a moment, the words of Ash resounding in her brain “I don’t want to think about tomorrow, I can’t think of the possibility of losing my team and deal with Saren without you… and the rest, at my side”

 

He examined the promenade, and confirmed that they are alone there, before getting closer to her, a hand moving to cup her face “I don’t want to think about it too, I can’t imagine my life without you in it, but this night…” he was closing the distance between them slowly, giving her time to move away if it's what she wants “for some hours, you are not my Commander, I’m not your subordinate, and I don’t give a shit for the regs” his lips are almost over hers, like he was waiting for her to make the last move. She decided that if this was their last night together, knowing that this mission is so dangerous that she can die on it, she closed the gasp, their lips meeting in a cast kiss, but only a breath before, his hands are on her neck and back while she plays with her hair, the passion growing in them with every heartbeat. His tongue touched her lower lip, tentatively, and she opened her lips for him, a low moan leaving them in unison while their tongues danced inside her mouth.

 

Her brain screams to her to stop, they are in public, and with all the willpower she had, she ended the kiss, leaning her forehead on his “That’s not how I imagined the night to end” he didn’t let go of her body “Me neither, but I’m dreaming of this since I meet you, and thinking that maybe tomorrow you will left the Citadel without me in a deadly mission… I need to do it, Kayla, I want to be with you, be part of your life” She can feel the warm from her heart and moved to kiss him again, a soft and lovingly kiss that talks in her name. “We have to came back before they started to search for us or Wrex starts to break things… but later, we will talk about it, in a more private place” he let her go and they moved back to the club. When they enter the room, Ashley moved directly to her and takes her hand, guiding her to the dance floor “Have some fun with me too Shepard! I’m jealous of him… you left me here with a lot of aliens and a pilot who can’t dance, it’s not fair!” she laughed loudly and started to move with her, obviously Ash was a better dancer, but it was fun to see her move in circles around her, playing with her hair and moving Tali between them from time to time, the little quarian clearly drunk, but happy to play her game. Ashley moved in front of her and slowly opened her hoodie, taking it off and throwing it to Kaidan, who’s seated near Joker enjoying the show “Hey! I’m not that hot!” Ashley whispered to her ear “Liar… you are hot, but not from the dancing, I hope you end whatever you started with him” She punched her rips, hard enough to make her yelp “Ash… we made a deal, remember?” she moved a hand over her lips “Yep, but I said to you that I will keep it until I was drunk enough to give it a damn, and there we are” She saluted her “Drunk Chief Williams at your service ma’am!” her laughs and happy mood is so contagious that Shepard start laughing with her, while Tali looks to them with her head tilted. Just then, Shepard’s omnitool beeped, an urgent message arrived. She moved to the door to read it, with her back to the team, luckily for her, because when she reads the message, a smile showed on her face, and she knew that is not fair to be happy about it, but can’t fight it. She closed the message and move to the dance floor, a feigned frown on her face “Sorry team, we have orders to presents ourselves to Udina office at first hour in the morning, we need to end the party before planned, all of us needs some sleep to burn the alcohol”

 

The team members only shrugged and thanked her for the party, they spent there the last four hours, so they are more than happy with the outcome. Garrus invited Tali to spend the night in his condo, where he have a guest room. Wrex left to his hotel, and Ashley left with a very much drunk Joker, while Shepard and Kaidan stay behind to clear the bill and thanks the staff for the good evening. She left a good tip for the waitresses and talked briefly with the barman before moving with Kaidan outside the club. 

 

They stopped in front of the rapid trans terminal, her hand trembling a bit when moving over the display “We can go back to the Normandy if you prefer it” he moved a hand to her back and whispered to her “I prefer to have that talk with you, the Normandy can wait”

She can feel the goosebumps over her skin rising from the area is hand is touching. She picked the destination and remain silent while the skycar arrived. He looks to her, intrigued, when he sees the car going to the Presidium “Where are we going?” she looks the landscape change quickly “I had a small apartment on the far side of the lake” 

 

The skycar stopped in front of a big block of apartments, and she left the car quickly, passing the entrance with her handprint, waiting for him to come before closing the door. The elevator was there, and she push the 70th floor. Kaidan started to feel nervous with her silence, and moved a hand to grasp one of hers “Kayla, are you ok?” She intercrossed her fingers with theirs “Yes, only a bit nervous, you are the first person I bring here… is like my secret haven, where I can retire when I want to be alone”

 

The elevator finally arrived to her floor, and they moved to the end of the corridor, the last door opening when the system scanned her. The lights turn on when they entered the apartment and she walked directly to the couch facing the big windows, seating Kaidan on it “Beer or coffee?” he stands up to help but her raised brow stopped him “Coffee please” she moves to the open kitchen and starts the coffee maker “Take a look if you want, I can see you eyes moving like crazy from here” He chuckled but moved to the wall opposite to the kitchen “You already know that curiosity takes the best of me” She smiled over the aisle while searching for her tea “Come on, don’t be shy, is not like a left something very personal or intimate over the chimney”. He found some photos on a shelf, a young version of her with her family, she looked so happy… in one of the photos, she and her brother are wearing an old Alliance uniform and are saluting the camera with a happy smile on their faces, in another Shepard had two little girls over her, the last one had Shepard with her parents, in a beautiful dress, the love in their eyes almost palpable. Between the photos, some old baby toys and school arts, surely from her sisters. 

 

He turned his attention to the door and saw that the entire wall has messages painted on it:  _ ‘Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. Carl Sagan’, ‘Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe. Albert Einstein’ _ , over a big library full of real books another quote  _ ‘Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. Carl Sagan’, ‘I think of space not as the final frontier but as the next frontier. Not as something to be conquered but to be explored. Neil deGrasse Tyson _ ’ finally his gaze stopped at the door, the full back of it had letters painted, he approaches the door to read the message:

_ ‘Lay down _

_ Your sweet and weary head _

_ The night is falling _

_ You have come to journey's end _

_ Sleep now _

_ And dream of the ones who came before _

_ They are calling _

_ From across the distant shore _

 

_ Why do you weep? _

_ What are these tears upon your face? _

_ Soon you will see _

_ All of your fears will pass away _

_ Safe in my arms _

_ You're only sleeping _

 

_ What can you see _

_ On the horizon? _

_ Why do the white gulls call? _

_ Across the sea _

_ A pale moon rises _

_ The ships have come to carry you home _

 

_ And all will turn _

_ To silver glass _

_ A light on the water _

_ All Souls pass _

 

_ Hope fades _

_ Into the world of night _

_ Through shadows falling _

_ Out of memory and time _

_ Don't say _

_ We have come now to the end _

_ White shores are calling _

_ You and I will meet again _

_ And you'll be here in my arms _

_ Just sleeping _

 

_ And all will turn _

_ To silver glass _

_ A light on the water _

_ Grey ships pass _

_ Into the West’ _

 

Shepard left the kitchen with a pair of cups on her hand, leaving them on the table near the couch and moving to him “Is the ending song of one of the Lord of the Rings movies, the original ones” He caressed her hand “It’s a lovely message, but I don’t remember the song” she moved to the big library and activates a little display on it, searching for the playlist with the song, choosing it to sound first “There you have it, come, take a sit with me” She lowered the lights on the room, the exterior light and the little one on the kitchen lighting the room enough to see. They enjoyed their drinks until the song ends “I didn’t know the song, but it’s beautiful” she nodded “Yes…” They returned to their contemplative state, sipping their drinks and enjoying the view, instrumental music on the background.

 

Kaidan left his cup on the table when the coffee is over, and changed his position to face her, a hand over the backrest of the couch. She smiled to him and moved to left her own cup on the table, taking of her shoes and putting her feets on the couch “I suppose we need to start talking, because unfortunately for us, we don’t have all the time I wished we’ll have” 

He moved a hand to catch hers, drawing smart circles in her palm “Then I’ll be the one to start, courtesy for bringing me to your haven” She smiled lazily to him while he tries to find the perfect words to explain himself “Like Ash loves to remember me everyday, it’s pretty obvious that I have strong feelings for you, feelings that I didn’t had the right to have, but I stopped lying to myself about it” he moved near her and moved his free hand to her face “I don’t know when happened, but I falled for you long ago” she moved a hand to caress his jaw “Then we are living the same nightmare on the Normandy, so close to one another but so distants... When the reality of my Spectre assignment hit me, the only thing I can think is losing you, and I can’t bear the thought. Since our first conversation, I feel so comfortable with you, like you are an old friend” she moved to a kneeled position, getting closer to him and wrapping her arms on his neck, her face so close they shared their breaths “Kiss me… touch me… love me… because if the worst happen and they separate us, I want to have a memory to relive, a reason to survive, another safe haven to come back”

 

He moves so quick that she didn’t have the time to think, and lay her down on the couch, positioning himself over her “Kayla… I’m afraid to wake up and find this is a dream” she kiss him “It’s very real Kaidan, I want you, I need you” 

 

The kiss they shared in that moment was toe curling, all the passion they felt showing in their lips. Her hands moved over him, caressing his back and moving slowly to his amp port, and when her fingers drawn a circle over it, he lost it, a low moan leave him and his biotics flaring, hers answering too, and the room was lighted in blue for a moment. His hands moved over her, the zip on her hoodie opening slowly, and then a hand moving below the tank top, caressing her skin. His mouth moved over her jaw, leaving sweet kisses and bites on his way to her neck. When he bites her in the pulse zone, she moaned loudly, and catching her breath for a moment, put a hand on his chest to stop him “Let’s move to the bedroom” 

He stands up near the couch, and lift her up in bridal style, winning a soft chuckle from her “Which door” she signaled the one on the right of the chimney. She opened the door from his arms and he closed it with his feet. The room is totally dark and Shepard used her omnitool to open the curtains, the light from the rings illuminating the room. They moved to the bed, and he lay her down softly. She takes off the hoodie and begins to unzip her pants and belt, she had left the weapons on the kitchen while making the coffee. He takes of his own sweater and shirt, unfastening his pants and letting the belt fall to the floor, his pistol still attached to it, kicking his shoes in the process. She’s mesmerized by the view, her hands stopped midair over her pants “Spirits, you are so damn sexy!” He moved a hand to his neck, nervous with the comment “You are made of hot stuff Kayla, I’m only a normal guy” She raised a brow to him “Definitely you worked and lived with a lot of blind people then, now come here and help me to take off my clothes” He kneeled near her, his hand moving over her leg “My pleasure”

 

And with that, the moment to talk ended, and the passion takes the reins of the situation. His hands moved over her, unfastening her pants and belt, and moving them over her legs, slowly, letting his fingers caress her skin. She takes of her tank top without any help, leaving her in her underwear, panting on the bed “You are overdressed Alenko” He decided to make her suffer a bit, and left the bed, moving off a step, before start to move the pants at a very slow pace over his legs. She smiled a devilish grin “Two can play this game, Kaidan” and she started to massage her breasts, her middle fingers playing with her nipples over the lace. In a heartbeat, he was over her, catching her two wrist in his left hand and placing them over her head “Minx”.

  
  


Her laugh turned into moans when his mouth start moving over her neck and chest, his free hand freeing her breasts from the cloth and caressing the hard nipples. When his mouth finally changed positions with his hand, she was panting, her back arching with every lap of his tongue, the sting she feel when he bites changed to hot passion when he lavished the area “Don’t tease me Kaidan”

 

He kissed her again, with renewed passion, releasing her hands and moving to her back to unclasp the bra. When the only pieces of clothes that separate them are their underwear, his hands moved over her body, his biotics activating, giving his touch a new kind of feelin. His hands moved below her panties and grabbed her ass, moving her hips up to let him takes them off. She used one of the legs and feet to move it the rest of the way out, letting them fall to the floor. His hands moved again to her ass, but one of them moved between her folds, his breath stopping for a moment when she felt how wet she was for him. She can feel his biotics on her, the feeling something totally new to her, like a slow vibration emanating from his hands… and then he entered her with a finger from behind, her name the only coherent word that left her mouth. He moved his hand to the front, entering her again, a second finger along the first, while his thumb moved over her clit. She’s a trembling mess, the sensations so powerful that she can’t speak or move. He stopped the assault for a moment to take off his underwear, releasing his thigh erection. Feeling it against her hips, her hands moved in autopilot, her fingers wrapping around her base, while the other hand moved over the tip, using the precum to lubricate the movement. He bites her shoulder, hard enough to leave a mark, but he’s lost in the sensation of her hands in him. When he place a hand over her abs, moving it slowly to her core, she let him go and grab his face, moving it over her own “Fuck me Kaidan” 

 

He kissed her, his tongue fighting with hers in midair, while he moved himself between her legs. She positioned her legs around his waist, the tip of his erection moving over her folds. He set a slow pace to enter her, the feeling so overwhelming for them that their biotics fired uncontrolled. When he was completely sheathed in her, he stops for a moment, kissing her with passion, one of his arms wrapping around her waist. He withdraws from her slowly, to enter again hard and fast, their moans losts in the kiss they are sharing. She moved his hands to his back, scratching it with her nails, her hips moving at unison with him, taking every push and deepening the feeling. He used the hand on her back to move her hips up, changing the position a bit, enough to touch the point that make her scream shamelessly, her voice breaking with every push, his name interlaced with a plea “harder--faster”, and he’s more than happy to oblige. He move his other hand to her bosom, taking a grip that help him to push on her harder. They were panting and moaning loudly, she was so close…

 

He kiss her again and feels her inner walls contracting around him, a biotic explosion, her orgasm hitting the pair with the same energy, pushing him over the cliff, and after some final movements, he buried himself as deep as he can, spilling his seeds on her, his own biotics flaring without control. He leans his forehead in her shoulder, trying to catch his breath, moving his hands to her shoulders to let her back rest a bit. 

He was still inside her, the feeling of love he felt so overwhelming he can’t think clearly. She moved her hands over his back, caressing the scratches she knew they will find there, and kissing his temple lovingly “Wow… that was…” he ended for her “Incredible”

 

She hugs him, one of her hands toying with his hair “Absolutely and completely incredible”

He moves from her reluctantly, laying beside her and wrapping his arms and legs over her body “How I convinced myself that I can live separated from you… What a stupid idea …” she buried her face on her neck, memorizing his unique perfume “Yeah… I never feeled that way for anyone. We’ll find a way to make it work, maybe my Spectre range can help, I need you at my side”

 

He sighed sadly, and kissed her head “We’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to know the true. Do you think we can sleep here for a while before coming back to the Normandy?” she moved her omnitool, activating an alarm “Best idea since the kissing part on the promenade” she kissed his neck lovingly “We have three hours, I hope we have at least a week to enjoy you...” he untangled himself only to move the covers over them, wrapping himself again as soon as he lay down “Good night Kayla” she moved to kiss his lips sweetly “Good night Kaidan”.

 

They fall asleep almost immediately, the comfort they feel in their shared hug and the extenuation of the day helping. The smiles they had on their faces while sleeping talked about the happiness they are feeling, even in dreams… 


	9. Waking up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They wake up together, their future unknow to them, but happy to be there... but the Normandy await

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I'm not feeling well and the muse don't talk to me this days (well, at least not the ME muse XD I'm playing DAI and have some intruders on my mind this days)
> 
> As you'll see, I'm changing a bit the cannon, not a lot, only adding more to the relationship, as always, comments are welcome! I'm trying to improve, the next chapters will not have smuth (or at least I'll try xD) because we start with the important missions, but you know, that pair are too hot for their own good...
> 
> Hope you are enjoying my story!

Kaidan’s brain was fighting against sleepeness, a soft sound disturbing his dreams. He tried to move a hand over his face, but something had him wrapped and can’t move his arms. Consciousness starts to show on his mind, and he feels the heat near him, a soft arm crossed over his upper body, legs tangled, his hand resting on the curve of an ass. He still hears the beeping sound, his waking mind recognizing it as an alarm. Kaidan opened his eyes slowly, giving his pupils time to adapt to the offending light entering through the windows. He looks down and what he founds melted his heart: Shepard’s head was over his chest, her fiery red hair falling over the pillow, her nude body wrapped around him, and a soft smile on her face. He can see the light of the alarm on her wrist, her omnitool trying desperately to wake her. 

 

He moved the arm to free from her grasp, she only move closer to him. The hand moved directly to her face, a soft caress on her check “Kayla, wake up honey” He feels her body stretching, like a cat, the contented sigh she made enough to make him smile. Her head moved against the crock of his neck “Pleeeeaseeee, stop the disturbing sound” 

His free hand moved to her wrist, touching the offending light to stop the alarm. With a swift movement, she was over him “My hero!” she closed the distance and kissed him, sweetly and slowly “Good morning, sunshine” His hands moved over back, ghosting over her skin with languid movements. Kayla moved again to his neck, her hands on his chest, talking in a low voice “No regrets?” He feels her fear in that two words, and hugged her “Nop… well, maybe one…” he rolled them, pinning her against the mattress “Time spent fighting it instead of enjoying it” The kiss they shared in that moment burning itself in their memories, a kiss full of passion and love. 

 

Her omnitool beeped again “As much as I love to stay here with you forever, we have a galaxy to save” With a final kiss on her nose, he stands up, helping her to get up. Her hands moving to his hair with a wicked smile “Love your unruly morning hair, but we need to fix it a bit” grasping his hand, she guided him to the bathroom, moving directly to the big shower. She toyed with the temperature controls until the water is at her taste, moving directly below it with a happy sigh. Kaidan was leaning against the wall, enjoying the view. She gave him her back while searching on the shelf for the gel, when she feels his body against hers “Can I help? I can wash your back” she let go the bottle on the shelf, and turned on her heels, facing him, her hands over his muscular chest “Maybe… let me check the time” with a kick movement of the wrist, the omnitool opened, a wicked smile showing in her face. The display closed while her hands pushed him to the wall, her body pressing him against the tiles, her tongue tracing his lips before kissing him. 

 

She feels his member getting harder between them, her hands moving slowly down. She put some distance between them, a lopsided grin on her face “I’ll clean you up” and before he can react, she was on her knees, the tip of his dick on her mouth, her tongue circling it. His hand moved to her head, his moans reverberating on the closed space. The heat between her legs growing with each stroke of her tongue, her throat trying to swallow all of him. His hips starts to move, and she put a hand on his hips, wrapping the other one on the base of his cock “Do it, fuck my mouth” He growled at that words, his free hand against the crystal to balance him, the hand on her head grabbing a handful of hair, his hips moving franctly. The sounds he made traveled directly to her core, little moans on her side only adding more pressure on Kaidan’s sack. 

With a final grunt, he pulled out of her mouth, lifting her from the floor against the wall. He kissed her roughly, his tongue moving like crazy inside her mouth. One of his hands down her back, her ass, and urging her leg to circle his hip. When positioned, the same hand moved again, stopping to grab a buttock, hard, before moving to her core. His fingers played with her folds, teasing her, the sounds she made losts in the kiss they shared. But when he enters her with two fingers, her back arched, breaking the kiss, and her panting moans sounded delicious in his ears. Kaidan left her mouth to kiss every part of her available, her face, her neck, her shoulders. His teeth are working on her lobe when his hand left her core “I need to fuck you, hard, need to hear you cry my name” she moaned louder and moved her arms to his neck, lifting her body against him and wrapping her other leg on his waist “Yes, do it, use me as you like”

Kaidan moved his two hands to her ass, positioning her where he wanted, the tip of his cock sliding inside her easily, making them gasp together. He sheathed himself to the hilt, giving them some moments to catch their breath, and then began to move, with all his might, hard and quick, pinning her against the wall incessantly. He starts to lose the rhythm, the heat in him growing quickly, and he moved a hand between them, his fingers drawing random patterns over her clit, happy to hear her breaths turning pants and her moans grew louder. She falls firsts, screaming his name with a burst of biotic energy, the walls of her core milking him to his release, his biotics mingling with hers, her name a mantra in his voice. When the rush of blood on their brains slowed, he puts her down, kissing her sweetly “Did I hurt you? You turn me on a beast and I can’t control myself” she returned the kiss and put a hand on his face “Of course not, you silly! And I have to say… I love that unrestrained version of you” she was smiling fondly to him “but we need to take that shower and be at the Normandy in 45 minutes” 

 

They shared a long sweet kiss below the water before helping each other to clean. The smiles fixed on their faces while they dress and moved to the living room. She moved directly to the control panel near the door while he picks up the jackets and Shepard’s weapons from the kitchen. When he approached her, she moved a hand to him “Come here, please” and when his hand is near the control panel, the VI talked “Alenko, Kaidan, access granted”. She smiled to him while opening the door “Now you can come and visit whenever you want” The items on his hands fall to the floor and he hugged her, lifting her from the floor and moving in circles happily, the pair of them laughing. After some moments, she put her down and kissed her head “Thanks” recovering the items and helping her to put the hoodie and the weapons.

 

The travel to the Normandy was a bittersweet one, they are happy for the night, for open their hearts to one another, but the fear of the possible separation was there. They shared a last kiss inside the skycar, and when the door opened, their marine façade was on their faces. They moved to the elevator and called it, nodding to the C-Sec officers on duty. As soon as the door of the lift closed, they started to laugh, Shepard the first to talk “You know… Ashley will be awful about it” Something that sounds like an ironic laugh left Kaidan “Awful is an understatement, she will be a pest, but we will love her anyway… killing a fellow marine was not going to look good in my file” She smiled to that and lowered her voice “Better to avoid the showers if she is near… I left some marks on you back, sorry!” His face reddened a bit, but a contented smile showed in his face “Don’t worry… but mine is easy to conceal, I left a mark on your shoulder easy identifiable” Her hand moved to the point where she remember his mouth biting her, and her face flushed too “I’ll put some makeup on it every morning”

 

The door to the dock opened, and they moved to the airlock, Shepard opening her omnitool before entering the decompression area “Time to use that Spectre codes… I’ll override the registry to change our times… done” they entered the ship after the decon process, and moved in silence to the crew deck. The mess was empty, and luckily for them, only three more persons sleeps on their room, and being old soldiers, they sleep like a trunk. Picking their uniforms and boots in silence, they moved to the bathrooms to change, Kaidan taking care of their dirty clothes while Shepard moved to the kitchen to make some breakfast for them.

 

She was fighting against the coffee maker when he arrives, giving her a smack on the ass to move her of the machine “I’ll do the coffee, search for something to eat” she moved to the cabinet where the pastries are stored, talking to herself “Butter cookies… strawberry flavored energy bars, vanilla bars… THERE! Chocolate cookies! That's what I’m talking about!” She picks the box, happy to see it perfectly sealed, and moved the mug with her tea and the cookies to the counter. Kaidan adds some sugar to his coffee and sat besides her, trying to pick up the box, but failing when she moved out of his reach “Ah ah, I fished the cabinets for this, ask nicely and maybe I’ll share it with you” just then, his stomach growls loudly, and his face turned red even under the bad light of the mess area. She starts laughing, and begins to open the box, giving him the first cookie “Yeah, you asked very nicely”

 

They talked about the last missions while eating, remembering the funny moments lived with the aliens of the team, totally unaware of their surroundings, until a hard body crashed against them from behind “Good morning Skipper! Good morning LT”

Shepard put a cookie on her mouth “Good morning to you too, Ash. I don’t know how you do it, you must be dead after all the booze you drink yesterday” She chew happily the cookie moving to the coffee machine “I know a way to burn the alcohol” leaning against the counter with a knowing smile, she confirmed that they are alone at the mess “but you know what I meant, don’t you?”

Shepard launch her a ball of paper from the cookie box “Ash…” 

Williams takes a mug and put herself a black coffee, drinking half of it before replenishing the mug and moving to the counter “No teasing, I know… I’m only happy for you. I promise, I’ll be a good girl, or I’ll try, very very hard”

 

They were laughing where the rest of the crew starts to show at the mess, Shepard takes a look to the time “We have to move, Williams, Alenko, come with me to the embassies, the Captain is waiting for us”

When they were putting the mugs on the sink, Chawkas moved to Shepard and gives her hug “Whatever happens, I’m happy to have the opportunity to see the woman you grow up” returning the hug she smiled to the doctor “Is good to have you onboard Karin”

 

They moved to the cargo bay to equip, armor and weapons waiting for them. Five minutes later, the team is moving through the CIC, ready to leave, finding Joker in his way to the cockpit, more slowly than usual. Shepard moved to him and adjusted her pace “Hey, are you alright?” He looked to her, and saw Kaidan and Ash over his shoulder “Yeah, I’m fine, a little bit sore, but nothing broke” just then, Shepard hear Kaidan asking Ashley if she was fine, her face blushing a bit, and a knowing smile starting to show on Kayla’s face “Ok, just take care, at least you can rest until we have our orders”

 

They left the ship, and moved to the elevator, and when the doors close, Shepard turned to face Ash “So… Joker… at least you didn’t break anything, thanks for that” Kaidan tries to look to the door, not wanting to add more discomfort to Ash, but the smile on his face is talking for him. Ashley puts her ironic face “Yeah, I know, I was careful… but you take the other hot guy of the crew, so I got Joker” Shepard punched her arm “Hey, I’m not judging! He’s funny, and cute, and had good arms and ass, I can see what you like of him” Now is Kaidan’s turn to punch Shepard “I’m here, you know…” She smiled to him “Better if I don’t start talking of everything I like of you, or we will not do it to the skycar and Ash will not be happy with the spectacle”

To her dismay, Ash moved to the corner of the elevator “Do it, I like to watch” crossing her arms and moving her brows. The two of them turned to her and talked at the same time “Shut up Chief!” the laughs of the team can be hear before the doors opens to the C-Sec academy.

 

The skycar was there, and Kaidan suspects is the same one they used to return this morning. Shepard chose the destination and enters the car, sitting on the back with Kaidan, Ashley sitting alone on the front “You know Skipper, maybe we need to make teams of four, I feel lonely here… anyway, I’ll need to check my messages” and she puts her headphones and start seeing a vidcom from her sisters. Shepard knew that she is giving them some private time, and without thinking, moved closer to him, their faces an inch away. His gloved hand moved to her neck and closed the distance, kissing him slowly, enjoying the moment. When the Presidium lake appears under the car, they broke the kiss, trying to steady their breaths before leaving the car. 

The skycar stopped near the embassies and before leaving the car, Shepard put a hand on both of them “Whatever happens today, it’s been an honor working with you” 

Ashley patted her hand with a smile “Same here Skipper, but don’t give up on us so easily, we can ask for a transfer to your new ship” 

They moved to the human embassy, greeting to the secretary before calling the door “Let’s see what the future holds for us”.

 


End file.
